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AMERICAN DEMOCRACY FROM 
WASHINGTON TO WILSON 



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Austen's Pride and Prejudice. 

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Cooper's The Deerslayer. 

Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. 

Cooper's The Spy. 

Dana's Two Years Before the Mast. 

Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. Part I. 

Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. Abridged. 

De Quincey's Confessions of an English 
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De Quincey's Joan of Arc, and The Eng- 
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Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and The 
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Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. 

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Dickens' Oliver Twist. 

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Irving's Life of Goldsmith. 

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Keary's Heroes of Asgard. 

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Kingsley's The Heroes. 

Kingsley's Westward Ho! 

Lamb's The Essays of Elia. 

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Letters from Many Pens. 

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4 WHAT WE SEEK IS THE REIGN OF LAW, BASED UPON THE 
CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED AND SUSTAINED BY THE ORGANIZED 
OPINION OF MANKIND." 



AMERICAN DEMOCRACY FROM 
WASHINGTON TO WILSON 

ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS 

EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION 

BY 

JOHN H. FINLEY 

COMMISSIONER OP EDUCATION FOR THE STATE 
OF NEW YORK 

AND A PREFACE AND NOTES 

BY 

JAMES SULLIVAN 

DIRECTOR OF THE DIVISION OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY, 
ALBANY, NEW YORK 



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1919 

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PREFACE 

This collection both in its contents and in its editing 
and preparation is of a composite character. Dr. Finley's 
absence in Palestine at the head of the Red Cross Com- 
mission made it impossible for him to complete the notes 
on Roosevelt's and Wilson's addresses and he asked me if 
I would not kindly do it. In combining the addresses of 
late President Roosevelt and of our President with those 
of Washington, Webster and Lincoln it was found that the 
publishers already had well edited and annotated texts 
of the latter prepared by Dr. Peck and Mr. Chubb, The 
biographical sketches and notes written by them have 
therefore been placed at the end of this volume, along with 
the biographical notices on Roosevelt and Wilson and 
the notes on their addresses, which have been written 
by the present editor. 

Some of President Wilson's addresses had already been 
very thoroughly annotated by various professors (see 
names in the notes) and issued by the Committee on 
Public Information at Washington. Permission to use 
these has been very graciously granted by that body. 

By keeping the texts of the addresses at the beginning 
and placing all biographical material and notes at the 
back of the volume, the editor feels that the double pur- 
pose is served of presenting a work to those who merely 
wish to read the greatest of the public addresses in the 
period covered from Washington to Wilson, and to students 
who wish to make a more thorough study of them. 

James Sullivan. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction by John H. Finley . . . xiii 

Washington : 

1. Farewell Address • 1 

Webster : 

2. The Bunker Hill Monument .... 23 

Lincoln : 

3. Address at Cooper Institute, Feb. 27, 1860 . . 49 

4. Addresses in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, 

Feb. 22, 1861, and at Washington, D. C, 

Feb. 27, 1861 65 

5. First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861 . . 68 

6. Letter to Horace Greeley, Aug. 22, 1862 . . 81 

7. Reply to Address from Workingmen of Man- 

chester, Jan. 19, 1863 83 

8. Gettysburg Address, Nov. 19, 1863 . 86 

9. Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865 . . 87 

10. Last Public Address, April 11, 1865 ... 90 

Roosevelt : 

11. Inaugural Address, March 4, 1905 ... 97 

Wilson : 

12. First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1913 . . 100 

13. The Declaration of Independence. Selection 

from the Address at Philadelphia, July 4, 

1914 . .107 

ix 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

14. The Pan American Program. An Extract from 

an Address, Jan, 6, 1916 .... 118 

15. The Traditions of America. An Extract from 

an Address, April 17, 1916 . . . .121 

16. Americanization and Loyalty. Address before 

the Citizenship Convention at Washington, 
July 13, 1916 123 

17. Abraham Lincoln. Address at Lincoln's Birth- 

place, Hodgenville, Kentucky, Sept. 4, 1916 129 

18. The Foundations of Peace. Part of an Address 

before the Senate, Jan. 22, 1917 . . .135 

19. Breaking with Germany. Message to Congress, 

Feb. 3, 1917 141 

20. Second Inaugural Address, March 5, 1917 . . 147 

21. Germany Makes War on the United States. 

War Address to Congress, April 2, 1917 . 153 

22. Ways to Serve the Nation During War. A Proc- 

lamation to the American People, April 

15, 1917 167 

23. Memorial Day Address, May 30, 1917 . . 173 

24. The Fight for Freedom. A Message to the 

People and New Government of Russia, 
June 9, 1917 175 

25. Our Flag. Flag Day Address, June 14, 1917 179 

26. Testing a Plan of Peace. Reply to the Pope, 

Aug. 27, 1917 188 

27. Struggling with Autocracy. Message to Con- 

gress, Dec. 4, 1917 193 



TABLE OF CONTENTS XI 

PAGE 

28. War Aims and Peace Terms. Address to Con- 

gress, Jan. 8, 1918 207 

29. Message to the Russian People. Greeting sent 

to Congress of Soviets at Moscow, March 

11, 1918 216 

30. Principles of Peace. Address to Congress, Feb. 

11, 1918 217 

31. The Challenge of Force. Address at Baltimore, 

April 6, 1918 226 

32. Standing Together for Democracy. Address to 

the American Federation of Labor at Buffalo, 
Nov. 12, 1917 232 

33. Greeting to France, July 14, 1918 . . .241 

34. There Can Be No Halfway Peace. Independence 

Day Address at Mount Vernon, July 4, 1918 242 

35. Our Peace Program. Address at the Metropoli- 

tan Opera House, New York, Sept. 27, 1918 247 

36. The Necessity for a League of Nations. Speech 

before the Peace Conference at Paris, 
Jan. 25, 1919 257 

Notes 265 



INTRODUCTION 

The addresses which have been brought together in 
this little volume were carried across the Atlantic, since 
there was not time in which to write the promised intro- 
ductory Tvord before the journey was begun. I made notes 
along the way but it was not till I was delayed for many 
hours not far from the Western Front, where I could see the 
constant flashing in the sky above the place of the supreme 
struggle, that I could make a beginning of writing any- 
thing in preface to these august utterances which cry across 
our whole national history and especially out of its most 
critical hours and darkest nights. It was there that the 
very principles for whose maintenance Washington, 
Webster, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Wilson spoke, were 
being fought for in the most important and critical con- 
flict in the world's history. The flashes in the sky seemed 
at first but "heat lightning " such as I had seen hundreds of 
times in the prairie skies of the Mississippi Valley, and as 
the train waited silently in the midst of the fields a nightin- 
gale began to sing whose voice was heard "in ancient 
days by Emperor and clown " and still sings on "the self- 
same song that found a path through the heart of Ruth." 
But no pacifistic interpretation of the light in the skies 
should deceive our children and youth; and no singing 
groves of literature causes to "fade, far away" the land 
"where but to think is to be full of sorrow." And so it is 
that the minds of our children whom we would have happy 



XIV INTRODUCTION 

even in the face of grim reality, must know the true mean- 
ing of these flashings, as of those above Sinai, and appre- 
ciate the values of the principles set forth in this solemn, 
little volume, collected and annotated by Dr. James 
Sullivan, the State Historian of New York, Their happiness 
is dependent upon our helping to carry through to the 
victorious end the war which, with all our reluctance to 
be " entangled " in Europe's quarrels, we have been " guided 
by justice'' in entering. 

It was not many nights later that I saw and heard the 
night-battle in the moonlit skies above Paris when the bar- 
barous ships attempted to kill and wreck, and the defend- 
ing barrage to protect women and children, homes and the 
highest creations of men's labor and imagination against 
this ravage. These words of our national leaders are as 
the barrage of national and world freedom which must 
constantly be rising in the minds of men and even of 
children against the menace of " selfish dominion," — 
the " terror by night" of our present era and the " de- 
struction that wasteth at noonday." 

And now from Rome, amid the ruins of her ancient 
empire, I send back these few prefatory paragraphs. The 
first words which I read on entering the city were these 
(the headline in the paper just come from the press) 
" Truppe Americane at F route Italiano.' 7 So is the freedom 
cry of the New World being heard in the land of its dis- 
coverer, and so will it be heard in these immortal utter- 
ances when the night skies are again lighted by the stars 
only. 

John H. Finley. 

Rome, Italy, 

May 28, 1918. 



AMERICAN DEMOCRACY FROM 
WASHINGTON TO WILSON 



AMERICAN DEMOCRACY FROM 
WASHINGTON TO WILSON 

GEORGE WASHINGTON 
1. FAREWELL ADDRESS 

Friends and Fellow-Citizens : The period for 
a new election of a citizen, to administer the executive 
government of the United States, being not far distant, 
and the time actually arrived, when your thoughts must 
be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed 5 
with that important trust, it appears to me proper, 
especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression 
of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the 
resolution I have formed, to decline being considered 
among the number of those out of whom a choice is to 10 
be made. 

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to 
be assured, that this resolution has not been taken with- 
out a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining 
to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country ; 15 
and that, in withdrawing the tender of service, which 
silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced 
by no diminution of zeal for your future interest; no 
deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness ; but 
am supported by a full conviction that the step is com- 20 
patible with both. 

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the 

B 1 



2 GEORGE WASHINGTON 

office to which your suffrages have twice called me, 
have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion 
of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your 
desire. I constantly hoped, that it would have been 
5 much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which 
I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retire- 
ment from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The 
strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the 
last election, had even led to the preparation of an 

10 address to declare it to you ; but mature reflection on the 
then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with 
foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons 
entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the 
idea. 

15 I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as 
well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of incli- 
nation incompatible with the sentiment of duty or pro- 
priety; and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be 
retained for my services, that, in the present circum- 

20 stances of our country, you will not disapprove my 
determination to retire. 

The impressions, with which I first undertook the 
arduous trust, were explained on the proper occasion.- 
In the discharge of this trust, I will only say, that I 

25 have, with good intentions, contributed toward the or- 
ganization and administration of the government the 
best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was 
capable. Not unconscious, in the outset, of the in- 
feriority of my qualifications, experience in my own 

30 eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has 
strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and 
every day the increasing weight of years admonishes 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 3 

me more and more, that the shade of retirement is as 
necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that, 
if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my 
services, they were temporary, I have the consolation 
to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to 5 
quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. 

In looking forward to the moment which is intended to 
terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do 
not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of 
that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country 10 
for the many honors it has conferred upon me ; still more 
for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported 
me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of 
manifesting rny inviolable attachment, by services faithful 
and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. 15 
If benefits have resulted to our country from these ser- 
vices, let it always be remembered to your praise, and 
as an instructive example in our annals, that, under 
circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every 
direction, were liable to mislead, amidst appearances 20 
sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often dis- 
couraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want 
of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the 
constancy of your support was the essential prop of the 
efforts, and a guaranty of the plans, by which they were 25 
effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall 
carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to 
unceasing vows, that Heaven may continue to you the 
choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and 
brotherly affection may be perpetual ; that the free 30 
constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be 
sacredly maintained ; that its administration in every 



4 GEORGE WASHINGTON 

department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; 
that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, 
under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete, by 
so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this 

5 blessing, as will acquire to them the glory of recommending 
it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every 
nation which is yet a stranger to it. 

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for 
your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and 

iothe apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, 
urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your 
solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your fre- 
quent review, some sentiments, which are the result of 
much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and 

1 5 which appear to me all-important to the permanency of 
your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you 
with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the 
disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can pos- 
sibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor 

2ocan I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent 
reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar 
occasion. 

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every liga- 
ment of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is neces- 

25 sary to fortify or confirm the attachment. 

The unity of government, which constitutes you one 
people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so ; for it 
is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, 
the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace 

30 abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that 
very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is 
easy to foresee, that, from different causes and from 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 5 

different quarters, much pains will be taken, many arti- 
fices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction 
of this truth ; as this is the point in your political fortress 
against which the batteries of internal and external en- 
emies will be most constantly and actively (though often 5 
covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite mo- 
ment, that you should properly estimate the immense 
value of your national Union to your collective and 
individual happiness ; that you should cherish a cordial, 
habitual, and immovable attachment to it ; accustoming 10 
yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium 
of your political safety and prosperity; watching for 
its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing 
whatever may suggest even a suspicion, that it can in 
any event be abandoned ; and indignantly frowning upon 15 
the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion 
of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties 
which now link together the various parts. 

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and 
interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common 20 
country, that country has a right to concentrate your 
affections. The name of American, which belongs 
to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt 
the just pride of patriotism, more than any appellation 
derived from local discriminations. With slight shades 25 
of difference, you have the same religion, manners, 
habits, and political principles. You have in a com- 
mon cause fought and triumphed together; the inde- 
pendence and liberty you possess are the work of joint 
counsels and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, 30 
and successes. 

But these ' considerationSj however powerfully they 



6 GEORGE WASHINGTON 

address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly out- 
weighed by those which apply more immediately to your 
interest. Here every portion of our country finds the 
most commanding motives for carefully guarding and 
s preserving the union of the whole. 

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the 
South, protected by the equal laws of a common gov- 
ernment, finds in the productions of the latter great 
additional resources of maritime and commercial enter- 

10 prise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. 
The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the 
agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its 
commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels 
the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation 

15 invigorated; and, while it contributes, in different ways, 
to nourish and increase the general mass of the national 
navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a mari- 
time strength to which itself is unequally adapted. The 
East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, 

20 and in the progressive improvement of interior communi- 
cations, by land and water, will more and more find, a 
valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from 
abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives 
from the East supplies requisite to its growth and com- 

25 fort, and, what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it 
must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indis- 
pensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, 
influence, and the future maritime strength of the At- 
lantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble com- 

30 munity of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by 
which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether 
derived from its own separate strength, or from an apos- 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 7 

tate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, 
must be intrinsically precarious. 

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an 
immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts 
combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means 5 
and efforts greater strength, greater resource, propor- 
tionably greater security from external danger, a less 
frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; 
and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from 
union an exemption from those broils and wars between 10 
themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring coun- 
tries not tied together by the same governments, which 
their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, 
but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and 
intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, like- 15 
wise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown 
military establishments, which, under any form of gov- 
ernment, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be 
regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. 
In this sense it is, that your union ought to be considered 20 
as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the 
one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other. 

These considerations speak a persuasive language to 
every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the 
continuance of the Union as a primary object of patri- 25 
otic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common govern- 
ment can embrace so large a sphere ? Let experience 
solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case 
were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper 
organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of 30 
governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a 
happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair 



8 GEORGE WASHINGTON 

and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious 
motives to union, affecting all parts of our country, while 
experience shall not have demonstrated its impractica- 
bility, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism 
5 of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its 
bands. 

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our 
Union, it occurs as a matter of serious concern, that any 
ground should have been furnished for characterizing 

i o parties by geographical discriminations, Northern and 
Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men 
may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real dif- 
ference of local interests and views. One of the expedients 
of party to acquire influence, within particular districts, 

1 5 is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other dis- 
tricts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against 
the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these 
misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each 
other those who o ght to be bound together by fraternal 

20 affection. The inhabitants of our western country have 
lately had a useful lesson on this head ; they have seen, 
in the negotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous 
ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and 
in the universal satisfaction at that event throughout the 

25 United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the 
suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the gen- 
eral government and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to 
their interests in regard to the Mississippi; they have 
been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with 

30 Great Britain and that with Spain, which secure to them 
everything they could desire, in respect to our foreign re- 
lations, toward confirming their prosperity. Will it not 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 9 

be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these ad- 
vantages on the Union by which they were procured? 
Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if 
such there are, who would sever them from their brethren, 
and connect them with aliens ? 5 

To the efficacy and permanency of your union, a gov- 
ernment for the whole is indispensable. No alliances, 
however strict, between the parts can be an adequate 
substitute ; they must inevitably experience the infractions 
and interruptions which all alliances in all times have ex- 10 
perienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have 
improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a 
constitution of government better calculated than your 
former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious man- 
agement of your common concerns. This government, 15 
the offspring of your own choice, uninfluenced and un- 
awed, adopted upon full investigation and mature delib- 
eration, completely free in its principles, in the distribu- 
tion of its powers, uniting security with energy, and 
containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, 20 
has a just claim to your confidence and your support. 
Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, ac- 
quiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the 
fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our 
political systems is the right of the people to make and to 25 
alter their constitutions of government. But the con- 
stitution which at any time exists, till changed by an ex- 
plicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly 
obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and 
the right of the people to establish government presup- 3 
poses the duty of every individual to obey the established 
government. 



10 GEORGE WASHINGTON 

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all com- 
binations and associations, under whatever plausible 
character, with the real design to direct, control, counter- 
act, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the 
5 constituted authorities, are destructive of this funda- 
mental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to 
organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary 
force ; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the 
nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and 

i o enterprising minority of the community; and, according 
to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the 
public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and 
incongruous projects of fashion, rather than the organs 
of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common 

15 councils, and modified by mutual interests. 

However combinations or associations of the above 
description may now and then answer popular ends, they 
are likely, in the course of time and things, to become 
potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and un- 

20 principled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the 
people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of govern- 
ment ; destroying afterwards the very engines which have 
lifted them to unjust dominion. 

Towards the preservation of your government, and the 

25 permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, 
not only that you steadily discountenance irregular op- 
positions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you 
resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its prin- 
ciples, however specious the pretexts. One method of 

30 assault may be to effect, in the forms of the constitution, 
alterations, which will impair the energy of the system, 
and thus to undermine what cannot be directly over- 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 11 

thrown. In all the changes to which you may be in- 
vited, remember that time and habit are at least as neces- 
sary to fix the true character of governments as of other 
human institutions ; that experience is the surest standard 
by which to test the real tendency of the existing consti- 5 
tution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the 
credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to per- 
petual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and 
opinion ; and remember, especially, that, for the efficient 
management of your common interests, in a country so 10 
extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is 
consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indis- 
pensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, 
with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest 
guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where 15 
the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises 
of faction, to confine each member of the society within 
the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in 
the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person 
and property. 20 

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties 
in the State, with particular reference to the founding of 
them on geographical discrimination. Let me now take 
a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most 
solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of 25 
party, generally. 

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our 
nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the 
human mind. It exists under different shapes in all 
governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed ; 3 d 
but in those of- the popular form it is seen in its greatest 
rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. 



12 GEORGE WASHINGTON 

The alternate domination of one faction over another, 
sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dis- 
sension, which in different ages and countries has per- 
petrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful 
5 despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal 
and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries 
which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek 
security and repose in the absolute power of an individual ; 
and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, 

i o more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns 
this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on 
the ruins of public liberty. 

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind 
(which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight) , 

15 the common and continued mischiefs of the spirit of party 
are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise 
people to discourage and restrain it. 

It serves always to distract the public councils, and 
enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the com- 

2omunity with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; 
kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments 
occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the doors to 
foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated 
access to the government itself through the channels of 

25 party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one 
country are subjected to the policy and will of an- 
other. 

There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are 
useful checks upon the administration of the government, 

30 and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within 
certain limits is probably true, and in governments of a 
monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 13 

• i 

if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of 
the popular character, in governments purely elective, it 
is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural ten- 
dency, it is certain there will always be enough of that 
spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being con- 5 
stant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of 
public opinion to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to 
be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent 
its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should 
consume. 10 

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking 
in a free country should inspire caution, in those intrusted 
with its administration, to confine themselves within their 
respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise 
of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. 15 
The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the 
powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, 
whatever the form of government, a real despotism. 
A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to 
abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is suf- 20 
ficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The 
necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political 
power, by dividing and distributing it into different de- 
positories, and constituting each the guardian of the public 
weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced 25 
by experiments ancient and modern, some of them in 
our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them 
must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the 
opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of 
the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, 30 
let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which 
the Constitution designates. But let there be no change 



14 GEORGE WASHINGTON 

by usurpation ; for, though this, in one instance, may be 
the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by 
which free governments are destroyed. The precedent 
must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any 
5 partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time 
yield. 

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political 
prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable sup- 
ports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of 

io patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pil- 
lars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties 
of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the 
pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A 
volume could not trace all their connections with private 

15 and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the 
security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense 
of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the in- 
struments of investigation in courts of justice? And let 
us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality 

2ocan be maintained without religion. Whatever may be 
conceded to the influence of refined education on minds 
of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid 
us to expect, that national morality can prevail in ex- 
clusion of religious principle. 

25 It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a 
necessary spring of popular government. The rule, in- 
deed, extends with more or less force to every species of 
free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can 
look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foun- 

3odation of the fabric? 

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, in- 
stitutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In pro- 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 15 

portion as the structure of a government gives force to 
public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be 
enlightened. 

As a very important source of strength and security, 
cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is, to 5 
use it as sparingly as possible ; avoiding occasions of ex- 
pense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that 
timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently 
prevent much greater disbursements to repel it ; avoiding 
likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning 10 
occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of 
peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable wars may 
have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon pos- 
terity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The 
execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, 15 
but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate. 
To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is 
essential that you should practically bear in mind, that 
towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; 
that to have revenue there must be taxes ; that no taxes 20 
can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient 
and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, in- 
separable from the selection of the proper objects (which 
is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive 
motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the 25 
government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence 
in the measures for obtaining revenue which the public 
exigencies may at any time dictate. 

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; 
cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and 30 
morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good 
policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of 



16 GEORGE WASHINGTON 

a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great 
nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too 
novel example of a people always guided by an exalted 
justice and benevolence. Who can doubt, that, in the 
5 course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would 
richly repay any temporary advantages, which might be 
lost by a steady adherence to it? Can it be, that Provi- 
dence has not connected the permanent felicity of a 
nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is 

io recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human 
nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices? 

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more es- 
sential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against 
particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, 

15 should be excluded ; and that, in place of them, just and 
amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The 
nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, 
or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is 
a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which 

20 is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. 
Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each 
more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of 
slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intrac- 
table, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute 

25 occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, 
and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will 
and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, 
contrary to the best calculations of policy. The govern- 
ment sometimes participates in the national propensity, 

30 and adopts through passion what reason would reject; 
at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation sub- 
servient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, am- 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 17 

bition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The 
peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations has 
been the victim. 

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for 
another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the 5 
favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary 
common interest in cases where no real common interest 
exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, 
betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels 
and wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or 10 
justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite 
nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly 
to injure the nation making the concessions, by unneces- 
sarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and 
by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, 15 
in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. 
And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens 
(who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility 
to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, 
without odium, Sometimes even with popularity ; gilding 20 
with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a 
commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable 
zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of 
ambition, corruption, or infatuation. 

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, 25 
such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly 
enlightened and independent patriot. How many op- 
portunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, 
to practise the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, 
to influence or awe the public councils ! Such an attach- 30 
ment of a small or weak, towards a great and powerful 
nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. 



18 GEORGE WASHINGTON 

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure 
you to believe me, fellow-citizens), the jealousy of a free 
people ought to be constantly awake, since history and 
experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most 
5 baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy, 
to be useful, must be impartial; else it becomes the in- 
strument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a 
defence against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign 
nation, and excessive dislike of another, cause those 

io whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and 
serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the 
other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the 
favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious; 
while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence 

15 of the people, to surrender their interests. 

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign 
nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have 
with them as little political connection as possible. So far 
as we have already formed engagements, let them be ful- 

2o filled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. 

Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have 
none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be en- 
gaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are 
essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it 

25 must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial 
ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the or- 
dinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or 
enmities. 

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables 

30 us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people, 
under an efficient government, the period is not far off, 
when we may defy material injury from external annoy- 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 19 

ance ; when we may take such an attitude as will cause 
the neutrality, we may at any time resolve upon, to be 
scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under 
the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not 
lightly hazard the giving us provocation ; when we may 5 
choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, 
shall counsel. 

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? 
Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, 
by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Eu- 10 
rope, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of 
European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice? 

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances 
with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, 
as we are now at liberty to do it ; for let me not be under- 15 
stood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing en- 
gagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public 
than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best 
policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be 
observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it 20 
is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them. 

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable es- 
tablishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may 
safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emer- 
gencies. 25 

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are rec- 
ommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even 
our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial 
hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or 
preferences ; consulting the natural course of things ; 30 
diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of 
commerce, but forcing nothing ; establishing, with powers 



20 GEORGE WASHINGTON 

so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define 
the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government 
to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, the 
best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will 
s permit, but temporary, and liable to be' from time to time 
abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances 
shall dictate ; constantly keeping in view, that it is folly 
in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another ; 
that it must pay with a portion of its independence for 

i o whatever it may accept under that character; that, by 
such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of 
having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of 
being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. 
There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate 

is upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, 
which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to 
discard. 

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of 
an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will 

20 make the strong and lasting impression I could wish ; that 
they will control the usual current of the passions, or pre- 
vent our nation from running the course which has hitherto 
marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter 
myself, that they may be productive of some partial benefit, 

25 some occasional good ; that they may now and then recur 
to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the 
mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the im- 
postures of pretended patriotism ; this hope will be a full 
recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which 

30 they have been dictated. 

How far in the discharge of my official duties, I have 
been guided by the principles which have been delineated, 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 21 

the public records and other evidences of my conduct must 
witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assur- 
ance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed 
myself to be guided by them. 

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my 5 
proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793, is the index of 
my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by 
that of your Representatives in both Houses of Congress, 
the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, un- 
influenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it. 10 

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best 
lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, 
under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, 
and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral 
position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should 15 
depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation, per- 
severance, and firmness. 

The considerations which respect the right to hold this 
conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I 
will only observe, that, according to my understanding of 20 
the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any 
of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted 
by all. 

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may* be inferred, 
without anything more, from the obligation which justice 25 
and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it 
is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace 
and amity towards other nations. 

The inducements of interest for observing that con- 
duct will best be referred to your own reflections and ex- 30 
perience. With me, a predominant motive has been to 
endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature 



22 GEORGE WASHINGTON 

its yet recent institutions, and to progress without in- 
terruption to that degree of strength and consistency 
which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the com- 
mand of its own fortunes. 
5 Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administra- 
tion, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am never- 
theless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable 
that I may have committed many errors. Whatever 
they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert 

10 or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall 
also carry with me the hope that my country will never 
cease to view them with indulgence ; and that, after forty- 
five years of my life dedicated to its service with an up- 
right zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be con- 

15 signed to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions 
of rest. 

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and 
actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so 
natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself 

20 and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate 
with pleasing expectation that retreat, in which I promise 
myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of 
partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign 
influence of good laws under a free government, the ever 

25 favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I 
trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers. 

George Washington. 
United States, 19th September, 1796. 



DANIEL WEBSTER 
2. THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 

This uncounted multitude before me and around 
me proves the feeling which the occasion has excited. 
These thousands of human faces, glowing with sym- 
pathy and joy, and from the impulses of a common 
gratitude turned reverently to heaven in this spacious 5 
temple of the firmament, proclaim that the day, the 
place, and the purpose of our assembling have made 
a deep impression on our hearts. 

If, indeed, there be anything in local association fit 
to affect the mind of man, we need not strive to re- 10 
press the emotions which agitate us here. We are° 
among the sepulchres of our fathers. We are on ground 
distinguished by their valor, their constancy, and tlhe 
shedding of their blood. We are here, not° to fix an 
uncertain date in our annals, nor to draw into notice 15 
an obscure and unknown spot. If our humble purpose 
had never been conceived, if we ourselves had never been 
born, the 17th of June, 1775, would have been a day on 
which all subsequent history would have poured its 
light, and the eminence where we stand a point of attrac- 20 
tion to the eyes of successive generations. But° we are 
Americans. . We live in what may be called the early age 
of this great continent ; and we know that our posterity, 

23 



24 DANIEL WEBSTER 

through all time, are here to enjoy and suffer the allot- 
ments of humanity. We see before us a probable train 
of great events; we know that our own fortunes have 
been happily cast; and it is natural, therefore, that 
5 we should be moved by the contemplation of occurrences 
which have guided our destiny before many of us were 
born, and settled the condition in which we should pass 
that portion of our existence which God allows to men 
on earth. 

10 We do not read even of the discovery of this continent, 
without feeling something of a personal interest in the 
event ; without being reminded how much it has affected 
our own fortunes and our own existence. It would be 
still more unnatural for us, therefore, than for others, to 

15 contemplate with unaffected minds that interesting, I 
may say that most touching and pathetic scene, when 
the great discoverer of America stood on the deck of his 
shattered bark, the shades of night falling on the sea, 
yet no man sleeping ; tossed on the billows of an unknown 

20 ocean, yet the stronger billows of alternate hope and 
despair tossing his own troubled thoughts; extending 
forward his harassed frame, straining westward his 
anxious and eager eyes, till Heaven at last granted him a 
moment of rapture and ecstasy, in blessing his vision with 

25 the sight of the unknown world. 

Nearer to our times, more closely connected with our 
fates, and therefore still more interesting to our feelings 
and affections, is the settlement of our own country by 
colonists from England. We cherish every memorial of 

30 these worthy ancestors ; we celebrate their patience and 
fortitude; we admire their daring enterprise; we teach 
our children to venerate their piety; and we are justly 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 25 

proud of being descended from men who have set the 
world an example of founding civil institutions on the 
great and united principles of human freedom and human 
knowledge. To us, their children, the story of their 
labors and sufferings can never be without interest. We 5 
shall not stand unmoved on the shore of Plymouth, 
while the sea continues to wash it ; nor will our brethren 
in another early and ancient Colony forget the place of 
its first establishment, till their river shall cease to flow by 
it. Xo vigor of youth, no maturity of manhood, will lead 10 
the nation to forget the spots where its infancy was cradled 
and defended. 

But the great event in the history of the continent, 
which we are now met here to commemorate, that prod- 
igy of modern times, at once the wonder and the blessing 15 
of the world, is the American Revolution. In a day of 
extraordinary prosperity and happiness, of high national 
honor, distinction, and power, we are brought together, 
in this place, by our love of country, by our admiration of 
exalted character, by our gratitude for signal services and 20 
patriotic devotion. 

The Society whose organ I am was formed for the 
purpose of rearing some honorable and durable monu- 
ment to the memory of the early friends of American 
Independence. They have thought that for this object 25 
no time could be more propitious than the present pros- 
perous and peaceful period; that no place could claim 
preference over this memorable spot ; and that no day 
could be more auspicious to the undertaking, than the 
anniversary of the battle which was here fought. The 30 
foundation of that monument we have now laid. With 
solemnities suited to the occasion, with prayers to Al- 



26 DANIEL WEBSTER 

mighty God for his blessing, and in the midst of this 
cloud of witnesses, we have begun the work. We trust 
it will be prosecuted, and that, springing from a broad 
foundation, rising high in massive solidity and unadorned 
5 grandeur, it may remain as long as Heaven permits the 
works of man to last, a fit emblem, both of the events in 
memory of which it is raised, and of the gratitude of those 
who have reared it. 

We know, indeed, that the record of illustrious actions 

10 is most safely deposited in the universal remembrance of 

mankind. We know, that if we could cause this structure 

to ascend, not only till it reached the skies, but till it 

pierced them, its broad surfaces could still contain but 

- part of that which, in an age of knowledge, hath already 

1 5 been spread over the earth, and which history charges 
itself with making known to all future times. We know 
that no inscription on entablatures less broad than the 
earth itself can carry information of the events we com- 
memorate where it has not already gone; and that no 

20 structure, which shall not outlive the duration of letters 
and knowledge among men, can prolong the memorial. 
But our object is, by this edifice, to show our own deep 
sense of the value and importance of the achievements of 
our ancestors ; and, by presenting this work of gratitude 

25 to the eye, to keep alive similar sentiments, and to foster 
a constant regard for the principles of the Revolution. 
Human beings are composed, not of reason only, but of 
imagination also, and sentiment ; and that is neither 
wasted nor misapplied which is appropriated to the pur- 

30 pose of giving right direction to sentiments, and opening 
proper springs of feeling in the heart. Let it not be 
supposed that our object is to perpetuate national hos- 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 27 

tility, or even to cherish a mere military spirit. It is 
higher, purer, nobler. We consecrate our work to the 
spirit of national independence, and we wish that the light 
of peace may rest upon it for ever. We rear a memorial 
of our conviction of that unmeasured benefit which has 5 
been conferred on our own land, and of the happy in- 
fluences wiiich have been produced, by the same events, 
on the general interests of mankind. We come, as Ameri- 
cans, to mark a spot which must for ever be dear to us 
and our posterity. We wish that whosoever, in all coming 10 
time, shall turn his eye hither, may behold that the 
place is not undistinguished where the first great battle of 
the Revolution was fought. We wish that this structure 
may proclaim the magnitude and importance of that 
event to every class and every age. We wish that in- 15 
fancy may learn the purpose of its erection from maternal 
lips, and that weary and withered age may behold it, and 
be solaced by the recollections which it suggests. We 
wish that labor may look up here, and be proud, in the 
midst of its toil. We wish that, in those days of disaster, 20 
which, as they come upon all nations, must be expected 
to come upon us also, desponding patriotism may turn its 
eyes hitherward, and be assured that the foundations of 
our national powder are still strong. We wish that this 
column, rising towards heaven among the pointed spires 25 
of so many temples dedicated to God, may contribute 
also to produce, in all minds, a pious feeling of dependence 
and gratitude. We wish, finally, that the last object to 
the sight of him who leaves his native shore, and the first 
to gladden him who revisits it, may be something which 30 
shall remind him of the liberty and the glory of his country. 
Let it rise ! let it rise, till it meet the sun in his coming ; 



28 DANIEL WEBSTER 

let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and parting 
day linger and play on its summit. 

We live in a most extraordinary age. Events so various 
and so important that they might crowd and distinguish 
5 centuries, are, in our times, compressed within the com- 
pass of a single life. When has it happened that history 
has had so much to record, in the same term of years, as 
since the 17th of June, 1775? Our own Revolution, 
which, under other circumstances, might itself have been 

i o expected to occasion a war of half a century, has been 
achieved ; twenty-four sovereign and independent States 
erected ; and a general government established over them, 
so safe, so wise, so free, so practical, that we might well 
wonder its establishment should have been accomplished 

15 so soon, were it not for the greater wonder that it should 
have been established at all. Two or three millions of 
people have been augmented to twelve, the great forests 
of the West prostrated beneath the arm of successful 
industry, and the dwellers on the banks of the Ohio and 

2othe Mississippi become the fellow-citizens and neighbors 
of those who cultivate the hills of New England. We 
have a commerce that leaves no sea unexplored ; navies, 
which take no law from superior force; revenues, ade- 
quate to all the exigencies of government, almost without 

25 taxation; and peace with all nations, founded on equal 
rights and mutual respect. 

Europe, within the same period, has been agitated 
by a mighty revolution, which, while it has been felt 
in the individual condition and happiness of almost 

30 every man, has shaken to the centre her political fabric, 
and dashed against one another thrones which had stood 
tranquil for ages. On this, our continent, our own example 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 29 

has been followed, and colonies have sprung up to be 
nations. Unaccustomed sounds of liberty and free 
government have reached us from beyond the track of the 
sun; and at this moment the dominion of European 
power in this continent, from the place where we stand 5 
to the south pole, is annihilated for ever. 

In the mean time, both in Europe and America, such 
has been the general progress of knowledge, such the 
improvement in legislation, in commerce, in the arts, in 
letters, and, above all, in liberal ideas and the general 10 
spirit of the age, that the whole world seems changed. 

Yet, notwithstanding that this is but a faint abstract 
of thp things wmich have happened since the day of the 
battle of Bunker Hill, we are but fifty years removed from 
it ; and we now stand here to enjoy all the blessings of our 15 
own condition, and to look abroad on the brightened pros- 
pects of the world, while we still have among us some of 
those who were active agents in the scenes of 1775, and 
who are now here, from every quarter of New England, 
to visit once more, and under circumstances so affecting, 20 
I had almost said so overwhelming, this renowned theatre 
of their courage and patriotism. 

Venerable men° ! you have come down to us from 
a former generation. Heaven has bounteously length- 
ened out your lives, that you might behold this joyous 25 
day. You are now where you stood fifty years ago, this 
very hour, with your brothers and your neighbors, shoulder 
to shoulder, in the strife for your country. Behold, how 
altered ! The same heavens are indeed over your heads ; 
the same ocean rolls at your feet ; but all else how changed ! 30 
You hear now no roar of hostile cannon, you see no mixed 
volumes of smoke and flame rising from burning Charles- 



30 DANIEL WEBSTER 

town. The ground strewed with the dead and the dying; 
the impetuous charge ; the steady and successful repulse ; 
the loud call to repeated assault; the summoning of all 
that is manly to repeated resistance ; a thousand bosoms 
5 freely and fearlessly bared in an instant to whatever of 
terror there may be in war and death ; — all these you 
have witnessed, but you witness them no more. All is 
peace. The heights of yonder metropolis, its towers 
and roofs, which you then saw filled with wives and children 

ioand countrymen in distress and terror, and looking with 
unutterable emotions for the issue of the combat, have 
presented you to-day with the sight of its whole happy 
population, come out to welcome and greet you with a 
universal jubilee. Yonder proud ships, by a felicity of 

15 position appropriately lying at the foot of this mount, 
and seeming fondly to cling around it, are not means of 
annoyance to you, but your country's own means of 
distinction and defence. All is peace ; and God has 
granted you this sight of your country's happiness, ere 

20 you slumber in the grave. He has allowed you to behold 
and to partake the reward of your patriotic toils ; and 
he has allowed us, your sons and countrymen, to meet 
you here, and in the name of the present generation, in 
the name of your country, in the name of liberty, to 

25 thank you° ! 

But, alas ! you are not all here ! Time and the sword 
have thinned your ranks. Prescott, Putnam, Stark, 
Brooks, Reed, Pomeroy, Bridge ! our eyes seek for you 
in vain amid this broken band. You are gathered to your 

30 fathers, and live only to your country in her grateful 
remembrance and your owm bright example. But let us 
not too much grieve, that you have met the common fate 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 31 

of men. You lived at least long enough to know that your 
work • had been nobly and successfully accomplished. 
You lived to see your country's independence established, 
and to sheathe your swords from war. On the light of 
Liberty you saw arise the' light of Peace, like 5 

"another morn, 
Risen on mid-noon ; "° 

and the sky on which you closed your eyes was cloudless. 

But, ah ! Him° ! the first great martyr in this great 
cause ! Him ! the premature victim of his own self- 10 
devoting heart ! Him ! the head of our civil councils, 
and the destined leader of our military bands, whom 
nothing brought hither but the unquenchable fire of his 
own spirit ! Him ! cut off by Providence in the hour of 
overwhelming anxiety and thick gloom ; falling ere he 1 5 
saw the star of his country rise ; pouring out his generous 
blood like water, before he knew whether it would fer- 
tilize a land of freedom or of bondage ! — how shall I 
struggle with the emotions that stifle the utterance of thy 
name ! Our poor work may perish ; but thine shall 20 
endure ! This monument may moulder away ; the solid 
ground it rests upon may sink down to a level with the 
sea ; but thy memory shall not fail ! Wheresoever among 
men a heart shall be found that beats to the transports 
of patriotism and liberty, its aspirations shall be to claim 25 
kindred with thy spirit. 

But the scene amidst which we stand does not permit 
us to confine our thoughts or our sympathies to those 
fearless spirits who hazarded or lost their lives on this 
consecrated spot. We have the happiness to rejoice here 30 



32 DANIEL WEBSTER 

in the presence of a most worthy representation of the 
survivors of the whole Revolutionary army. 

Veterans ! you are the remnant of many a well-fought 
field. You bring with you marks of honor from Trenton 

5 and Monmouth, from Yorktown, Camden, Bennington, 
and Saratoga. Veterans of half a century! when in 
your youthful days you put every thing at hazard in 
your country's cause, good as that cause was, and sanguine 
as youth is, still your fondest hopes did not stretch onward 

10 to an hour like this ! At a period to which you could not 
reasonably have expected to arrive, at a moment of 
national prosperity such as you could never have fore- 
seen, you are now met here to enjoy the fellowship of old 
soldiers, and to receive the overflowings of a universal 

15 gratitude. 

But your agitated countenances and your heaving 
breasts inform me that even this is not an unmixed joy. 
I perceive that a tumult of contending feelings rushes 
upon you. The images of the dead, as well as the persons 

20 of the living, present themselves before you. The scene 
overwhelms you, and I turn from it. May the Father 
of all mercies smile upon your declining years, and bless 
them ! And when you shall here have exchanged your 
embraces, when you shall once more have pressed the 

25 hands which have been so often extended to give succor in 
adversity, or grasped in the exultation of victory, then 
look abroad upon this lovely land which your young 
valor defended, and mark the happiness with which it 
is filled ; yea, look abroad upon the whole earth, and 

30 see what a name you have contributed to give to your 
country, and what a praise you have added to freedom, 
and then rejoice in the sympathy and gratitude which 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 33 

beam upon your last days from the improved condition 
of mankind. 

The occasion does not require of me any particular 
account of the battle of the 17th of June, 1775, nor 
any detailed narrative of the events which immediately 5 
preceded it. These are familiarly known to all. In the 
progress of the great and interesting controversy, Massa- 
chusetts and the town of Boston had become early and 
marked objects of the displeasure of the British Parliament. 
This had been manifested in the act for altering the govern- 10 
ment° of the Province, and in that for shutting up the 
port of Boston. Nothing sheds more honor on our early 
history, and nothing better show r s how little the feelings 
and sentiments of the Colonies were known or regarded 
in England, than the impression which these measures 15 
everywhere produced in America. It had been an- 
ticipated, that while the Colonies in general would be 
terrified by the severity of the punishment inflicted on 
Massachusetts, the other seaports would be governed 
by a mere spirit of gain ; and that, as Boston was now 20 
cut off from all commerce, the unexpected advantage 
which this blow on her was calculated to confer on other 
towns would be greedily enjoyed. How miserably such 
reasoners deceived themselves ! How little they knew of 
the depth, and the strength, and the intenseness of that 25 
feeling of resistance to illegal acts of power, wbich'possessed 
the whole American people ! Everywhere the unworthy 
boon was rejected with scorn. The fortunate occasion was 
seized, everywhere, to show to the whole world that the 
Colonies were swayed by no local interest, no partial 3° 
interest, no selfish interest. The temptation to profit by 
the punishment of Boston was strongest to our neighbors 



34 DANIEL WEBSTER 

of Salem. Yet Salem was precisely the place where this 
miserable proffer was spurned, in a tone of the most lofty 
self-respect and the most indignant patriotism. "We 
are deeply affected," said its inhabitants, "with the sense 
5 of our public calamities ; but the miseries that are now 
rapidly hastening on our brethren in the capital of the 
Province greatly excite our commiseration. By shutting 
up the port of Boston some imagine that the course of 
trade might be turned hither and to our benefit ; but we 

iomust be dead to every idea of justice, lost to all feelings 
of humanity, could we indulge a thought to seize on 
wealth and raise our fortunes on the ruin of our suffering 
neighbors." These noble sentiments were not confined to 
our immediate vicinity. In that day of general affection 

15 and brotherhood, the blow given to Boston smote on 
every patriotic heart from one end of the country to the 
other. Virginia and the Carolinas, as well as Connecticut 
and New Hampshire, felt and proclaimed the cause to be 
their own. The Continental Congress, then holding its 

20 first session in Philadelphia, expressed its sympathy for 
the suffering inhabitants of Boston, and addresses were 
received from all quarters, assuring them that the cause 
was a common one, and should be met by common efforts 
and common sacrifices. The Congress of Massachusetts 

25 responded to these assurances; and in an address to the 
Congress at Philadelphia, bearing the official signature, 
perhaps among the last, of the immortal Warren, not- 
withstanding the severity of its suffering and the magni- 
tude of the dangers which threatened it, it was declared, 

30 that this Colony "is ready, at all times, to spend and to 
be spent in the cause of America." 

But the hour drew nigh which was to put professions to 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 35 

the proof, and to determine whether the authors of these 
mutual pledges were ready to seal them in blood. The 
tidings of Lexington and Concord had no sooner spread, 
than it was universally felt that the time was at last 
come for action. A spirit pervaded all ranks, not tran- 5 
sient, not boisterous, but deep, solemn, determined, 



"totamque infusa per artus 
Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpoi 



corpore miscet." 

War on their own soil and at their own doors, was, indeed, 
a strange work to the yeomanry of New England; but 10 
their consciences were convinced of its necessity, their 
country called them to it, and they did not withhold them- 
selves from the perilous trial. The ordinary occupations 
of life were abandoned; the plough was stayed in the 
unfinished furrow ; wives gave up their husbands, and 1 5 
mothers gave up their sons, to the battles of the civil 
war. Death might come in honor, on the field ; it might 
come in disgrace, on the scaffold. For either and for 
both they were prepared. The sentiment of Quincy was 
full in their hearts. " Blandishments/ ' said that dis- 20 
tinguished son of genius and patriotism, "will not fas- 
cinate us, nor will threats of a halter intimidate ; for, 
under God, we are determined, that, wheresoever, when- 
soever, or howsoever, we shall be called to make our exit, 
we will die free men." 25 

The 17th of June saw the four New England Colonies 
standing here, side by side, to triumph or to fall together ; 
and there was with them from that moment to the end 
of the war, what I hope will remain with them for ever, 
one cause, one country, one heart. 30 



36 DANIEL WEBSTER 

The battle of Bunker Hill was attended with the most 
important effects beyond its immediate results as a 
military engagement. It created at once a state of 
open, public war. There could now be no longer a ques- 
5 tion of proceeding against individuals, as guilty of treason 
or rebellion. That fearful crisis was past. The appeal 
lay to the sword, and the only question was, whether the 
spirit and the resources of the people would hold out, till 
the object should be accomplished. Nor were its general 

10 consequences confined to our own country. The previous 
proceedings of the Colonies, their appeals, resolutions, 
and addresses, had made their cause known to Europe. 
Without boasting, we may say, that in no age or country 
has the public cause been maintained with more force of 

15 argument, more power of illustration, or more of that 
persuasion which excited feeling and elevated principle 
can alone bestow, than the Revolutionary state papers 
exhibit. These papers will for ever deserve to be studied ; 
not only for the spirit which they breathe, but for the 

20 ability with which they were written. 

To this able vindication of their cause, the Colonies 
had now added a practical and severe proof of their own 
true devotion to it, and given evidence also of the power 
which they could bring to its support. All now saw, 

25 that if America fell, she would not fall without a struggle. 
Men felt sympathy and regard, as well as surprise, when 
they beheld these infant states, remote, unknown, un- 
aided, encounter the power of England, and, in the first 
considerable battle, leave more of their enemies dead 

30 on the field, in proportion to the number of combatants, 

than had been recently known to fall in the wars of Europe. 

Information of these events, circulating throughout the 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 37 

world, at length reached the ears of one who now hears me.° 
He has not forgotten the emotion which the fame of 
Bunker Hill, and the name of Warren, excited in his youth- 
ful breast. 

Sir, we are assembled to commemorate the establish- 5 
ment of great public principles of liberty, and to do honor 
to the distinguished dead. The occasion is too severe 
for eulogy of the living. But, Sir, your interesting 
relation to this country, the peculiar circumstances which 
surround you and surround us, call on me to express the 10 
happiness which we derive from your presence and aid 
in this solemn commemoration. 

Fortunate, fortunate man ! with what measure of 
devotion will you not thank God for the circumstances 
of your extraordinary life ! You are connected with both 15 
hemispheres and with two generations. Heaven saw fit 
to ordain that the electric spark of liberty should be con- 
ducted, through you, from the New World to the Old; 
and we, who are now here to perform this duty of patriot- 
ism, have all of us long ago received it in charge from 20 
our fathers to cherish your name and your virtues. You 
will account it an instance of your good fortune, Sir, that 
you crossed the seas to visit us at a time which enables 
you to be present at this solemnity. You now behold 
the field, the renown of which reached you in the heart of 25 
France, and caused a thrill in your ardent bosom. You 
see the lines of the little redoubt thrown up by the incred- 
ible diligence of Prescott ; defended, to the last extremity, 
by his lion-hearted valor; and within which the corner- 
stone of our monument has now taken its position. You 30 
see where Warren fell, and where Parker, Gardner, 
McClary, Moore, and other early patriots fell with him. 



38 DANIEL WEBSTER 

Those who survived that day, and whose lives have been 
prolonged to the present hour, are now around you. 
Some of them you have known in the trying scenes of the 
war. Behold ! they now stretch forth their feeble arms 
5 to embrace you. Behold ! they raise their trembling 
voices to invoke the blessing of God on you and yours 
for ever. 

Sir, you have assisted us in laying the foundation of 
this structure. You have heard us rehearse, with our 

10 feeble commendation, the names of departed patriots. 
Monuments and eulogy belong to the dead. We give 
them this day to Warren and his associates. On other 
occasions they have been given to your more immediate 
companions in arms, to Washington, to Greene, to Gates, 

is to Sullivan, and to Lincoln. We have become reluctant 
to grant these, our highest and last honors, further. We 
would gladly hold them yet back from the little remnant 
of that immortal band. "Serus in ccelum redeas." 
Illustrious as are your merits, yet far, O, very far distant 

20 be the day, when any inscription shall bear your name, 
or any tongue pronounce its eulogy ! 

The leading reflection to which this occasion seems to 
invite us, respects the great changes which have happened 
in the fifty years since the battle of Bunker Hill was 

25 fought. And it peculiarly marks the character of the 
present age, that, in looking at these changes, and in 
estimating their effect on our condition, we are obliged 
to consider, not what has been done in our country only, 
but in others also. In these interesting times, while 

30 nations are making separate and individual advances in 
improvement, they make, too, a common progress; like 
vessels on a common tide, propelled by the gales at different 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 39 

rates, according to their several structure and manage- 
ment, but all moved forward by one mighty current, 
strong enough to bear onward whatever does not sink 
beneath it. 

A chief distinction of the present day is a community 5 
of opinions and knowledge amongst men in different 
nations, existing in a degree heretofore unknown. Knowl- 
edge has, in our time, triumphed, and is triumphing, 
over distance, over difference of languages, over diversity 
of habits, over prejudice, and over bigotry. The civilized 10 
and Christian world is fast learning the great lesson, 
that difference of nation does not imply necessary hos- 
tility, and that all contact need not be war. The whole 
world is becoming a common field for intellect to act in. 
Energy of mind, genius, power, wheresoever it exists, 15 
may speak out in any tongue, and the world will hear it. 
A great chord of sentiment and feeling runs through two 
continents, and vibrates over both. Every breeze wafts 
intelligence from country to country; every wave rolls 
it ; all give it forth, and all in turn receive it. There is a 20 
vast commerce of ideas ; there are marts and exchanges 
for intellectual discoveries, and a wonderful fellowship 
of those individual intelligences which make up the mind 
and opinion of the age. Mind is the great lever of all 
things ; human thought is the process by which human 25 
ends are ultimately answered ; and the diffusion of knowl- 
edge, so astonishing in the last half-century, has rendered 
innumerable minds, variously gifted by nature, competent 
to be competitors or fellow-workers on the theatre of 
intellectual operation. 30 

From these causes important improvements have taken 
place in the personal condition of individuals. Generally 



40 DANIEL WEBSTER 

speaking, mankind are not only better fed and better 
clothed, but they are able also to enjoy more leisure; 
they possess more refinement and more self-respect. A 
superior tone of education, manners, and habits pre- 
5 vails. This remark, most true in its application 
to our own country, is also partly true when applied 
elsewhere. It is proved by the vastly augmented con- 
sumption of those articles of manufacture and of commerce 
which contribute to the comforts and the decencies of 

i o life; an augmentation which has far outrun the progress 
of population. And while the unexampled and almost 
incredible use of machinery would seem to supply the 
place of labor, labor still finds its occupation and its 
reward ; so wisely has Providence adjusted men's wants 

15 and desires to their condition and their capacity. 

Any adequate survey, however, of the progress made 
during the last half -century in the polite and the mechanic 
arts, in machinery and manufactures, in commerce and 
agriculture, in letters and in science, would require 

20 volumes. I must abstain wholly from these subjects, 
and turn for a moment to the contemplation of what has 
been done on the great question of politics and government. 
This is the master topic of the age ; and during the whole 
fifty years it has intensely occupied the thoughts of men. 

25 The nature of civil government, its ends and uses, have 
been canvassed and investigated ; ancient opinions 
attacked and defended; new ideas recommended and . 
resisted, by whatever power the mind of man could 
bring to the controversy. From the closet and the public 

30 halls the debate has been transferred to the field ; and the 
world has been shaken by wars of unexampled magnitude, 
and the greatest variety of fortune. A day of peace has at 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 41 

length succeeded ; and now that the strife has subsided, 
and the smoke cleared away, we may begin to see what 
has actually been done, permanently changing the state 
and condition of human society. And, without dwelling 
on particular circumstances, it is most apparent, that, 5 
from the before-mentioned causes of augmented knowl- 
edge and improved individual condition, a real, sub- 
stantial, and important change has taken place, and is 
taking place, highly favorable, on the whole, to human 
liberty and human happiness. 10 

The great wheel of political revolution began to move 
in America. Here its rotation was guarded, regular, 
and safe. Transferred to the other continent, from 
unfortunate but natural causes, it received an irregular 
and violent impulse ; it whirled along with a fearful 1 5 
celerity ; till at length, like the chariot-wheels in the races 
of antiquity, it took fire from the rapidity of its own 
motion, and blazed onward, spreading conflagration and 
terror around. 

We learn from the result of this experiment, how for- 20 
tunate was our own condition, and how admirably the 
character of our people was calculated for setting the great 
example of popular governments. The possession of 
power did not turn the heads of the American people, 
for they had long been in the habit of exercising a great 25 
degree of self-control. Although the paramount authority 
of the parent state existed over them, yet a large field of 
legislation had always been open to our Colonial assemblies. 
They were accustomed to representative bodies and the 
forms of free government ; they understood the doctrine 30 
of the division of power among different branches, and the 
necessity of checks on each. The character of our country- 



42 DANIEL WEBSTER 

men, moreover, was sober, moral, and religious ; and there 
was little in the change to shock their feelings of justice 
and humanity, or even to disturb an honest prejudice. 
We had no domestic throne to overturn, no privileged 
5 orders to cast down, no violent changes of property to en- 
counter. In the American Revolution, no man sought or 
wished for more than to defend and enjoy his own. None 
hoped for plunder or for spoil. Rapacity was unknown to 
it ; the axe was not among the instruments of its accom- 

10 plishment ; and we all know that it could not have lived a 
single day under any well-founded imputation of possess- 
ing a tendency adverse to the Christian religion. 

It need not surprise us, that, under circumstances less 
auspicious, political revolutions elsewhere, even when well 

15 intended, have terminated differently. It is, indeed, a 
great achievement, it is the master-work of the world, to 
establish governments entirely popular on lasting founda- 
tions; nor is it easy, indeed, to introduce the popular 
principle at all into governments to which it has been 

20 altogether a stranger. It cannot be doubted, however, 
that Europe has come out of the contest, in which she 
has been so long engaged, with greatly superior knowledge, 
and, in many respects, in a highly improved condition. 
Whatever benefit has been acquired is likely to be retained, 

25 for it consists mainly in the acquisition of more enlightened 
ideas. And although kingdoms and provinces may be 
wrested from the hands that hold them, in the same manner 
they were obtained ; although ordinary and vulgar power 
may, in human affairs, be lost as it has been won ; yet 

30 it is the glorious prerogative of the empire of knowledge, 
that what it gains it never loses. On the contrary, it 
increases by the multiple of its own power; all its ends 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 43 

become means ; all its attainments, helps to new conquests. 
Its whole abundant harvest is but so much seed wheat, 
and nothing has limited, and nothing can limit, the amount 
of ultimate product. 

Under the influence of this rapidly increasing knowledge, 5 
the people have begun, in all forms of government, to 
think, and to reason, on affairs of state. Regarding 
government as an institution for the public good, they 
demand a knowledge of its operations, and a participation 
in its exercise. A call for the representative system, 10 
wherever it is not enjoyed, and where there is already 
intelligence enough to estimate its value, is perse ver- 
ingly made. Where men may speak out, they de- 
mand it ; where the bayonet is at their throats, they 
pray for it . 15 

When Louis the Fourteenth said, "I am the state/' 
he expressed the essence of the doctrine of unlimited 
power. By the rules of that system, the people are dis- 
connected from the state ; they are its subjects, it is their 
lord. These ideas, founded in the love of power, and 20 
long supported by the excess and the abuse of it, are 
yielding, in our age, to other opinions; and the civilized 
world seems at last to be proceeding to the conviction 
of that fundamental and manifest truth, that the powers 
of government are but a trust, and that they cannot be 25 
lawfully exercised but for the good of the community. 
As knowledge is more and more extended, this conviction 
becomes more and more general. Knowledge, in truth, 
is the great sun in the firmament. Life and power are 
scattered with all its beams. The prayer of the Grecian 30 
champion, when enveloped in unnatural clouds and 
darkness, is the appropriate political supplication for 



44 DANIEL WEBSTER 

the people of every country not yet blessed with free 
institutions : — 

" Dispel this cloud, the light of heaven restore, 
Give me to see, — and Ajax asks no more." 

5 We may hope that the growing influence of enlightened 
sentiment will promote the permanent peace of the world. 
Wars to maintain family alliances, to uphold or to cast 
down dynasties, and to regulate successions to thrones, 
which have occupied so much room in the history of modern 

10 times, if not less likely to happen at all, will be less likely 
to become general and involve many nations, as the great 
principle shall be more and more established, that the 
interest of the world is peace, and its first great statute, 
that every nation possesses the power of establishing a 

15 government for itself. But public opinion has attained 
also an influence over governments which do not admit 
the popular principle into their organization. A necessary 
respect for the judgment of the world operates, in some 
measure, as a control over the most unlimited forms of 

20 authority. It is owing, perhaps, to this truth, that the 
interesting struggle of the Greeks has been suffered to go 
on so long, without a direct interference, either to wrest 
that country from its present masters, or to execute the 
system of pacification by force, and, with united strength, 

25 lay the neck of Christian and civilized Greek at the foot 
of the barbarian Turk. Let us thank God that we live 
in an age when something has influence besides the 
bayonet, and when the sternest authority does not venture 
to encounter the scorching power of public reproach. 

30 Any attempt of the kind I have mentioned should be 
met by one universal burst of indignation; the air of 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 45 

the civilized world ought to be made too warm to be com- 
fortably breathed by any one who would hazard it. 

It is, indeed, a touching reflection, that, while, in the 
fulness of our country's happiness, we rear this monument 
to her honor, we look for instruction in our undertaking 5 
to a country which is now in fearful contest, not for works 
of art or memorials of glory, but for her own existence. 
Let her be assured, that she is not forgotten in the world ; 
that her efforts are applauded, and that constant prayers 
ascend for her success. And let us cherish a confident 10 
hope for her final triumph. If the true spark of religious 
and civil liberty be kindled, it will burn. Human agency 
cannot extinguish it. Like the earth's central fire, it 
ma}^ be smothered for a time ; the ocean may overwhelm 
it; mountains may press it down; but its inherent and 15 
unconquerable force will heave both the ocean and the 
land, and at some time or other, in some place or other, 
the volcano will break out and flame up to heaven. 

Among the great events of the half-century, we must 
reckon, certainly, the revolution of South America ; and 20 
we are not likely to overrate the importance of that rev- 
olution, either to the people of the country itself or to 
the rest of the world. The late Spanish colonies, now 
independent states, under circumstances less favorable, 
doubtless, than attended our own revolution, have yet 25 
successfully commenced their national existence. They 
have accomplished the great object of establishing their 
independence; they are known and acknowledged in 
the world; and although in regard to their systems of 
government, their sentiments on religious toleration, and 30 
their provision for public instruction, they may have yet 
much to learn, it must be admitted that they have risen to 



46 DANIEL WEBSTER 

the condition of settled and established states more 
rapidly than could have been reasonably anticipated. 
They already furnish an exhilarating example of the 
difference between free governments and despotic misrule. 
5 Their commerce, at this moment, creates a new activity 
in all the great marts of the world. They show themselves 
able, by an exchange of commodities, to bear a useful 
part in the intercourse of nations. 
A new spirit of enterprise and industry begins to pre- 

iovail; all the great interests of society receive a salutary 
impulse ; and the progress of information not only testifies 
to an improved condition, but itself constitutes the highest 
and most essential improvement. 

When the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, the existence 

15 of South America was scarcely felt in the civilized world. 
The thirteen little colonies of North America habitually 
called themselves the "continent." Borne down by 
colonial subjugation, monopoly, and bigotry, these vaBfet 
regions of the South were hardly visible above the horizon. 

20 But in our day there has been, as it were, a new creation. 
The southern hemisphere emerges from the sea. Its 
lofty mountains begin to lift themselves into the light of 
heaven ; its broad and fertile plains stretch out, in beauty, 
to the eye of civilized man, and at the mighty bidding of 

25 the voice of political liberty the waters of darkness retire. 
And now, let us indulge an honest exultation in the con- 
viction of the benefit which the example of our country has 
produced, and is likely to produce, on human freedom and 
human happiness. Let us endeavor to comprehend in all 

.30 its magnitude, and to feel in all its importance, the part as- 
signed to us in the great drama of human affairs. We are 
placed at the head of the system of representative and 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 47 

popular governments. Thus far our example shows that 
such governments are compatible, not only with respecta- 
bility and power, but with repose, with peace, with 
security of personal rights, with good laws, and a just 
administration. 5 

We are not propagandists. Wherever other systems are 
preferred, either as being thought better in themselves, 
or as better suited to existing conditions, we leave the 
preference to be enjoyed. Our history hitherto proves, 
however, that the popular form is practicable, and that 10 
with wisdom and knowledge men may govern themselves ; 
and the duty incumbent on us is to preserve the con- 
sistency of this cheering example, and take care that noth- 
ing may weaken its authority with the world. If, in our 
case, the representative system ultimately fail, popular 15 
governments must be pronounced impossible. No com- 
bination of circumstances more favorable to the experi- 
ment can ever be expected to occur. The last hopes of 
mankind, therefore, rest with us ; and if it should be pro- 
claimed, that our example had become an argument against 20 
the experiment, the knell of popular liberty would be 
sounded throughout the earth. 

These are excitements to duty; but they are not 
suggestions of doubt. Our history and our condition, 
all that is gone before us, and all that surrounds us, 25 
authorize the belief, that popular governments, though 
subject to occasional variations, in form perhaps not always 
for the better, may yet, in their general character, be as du- 
rable and permanent as other systems. We know, indeed, 
that in our country any other is impossible. The princi- 30 
pie of free governments adheres to the American soil. It 
is bedded in it, immovable as its mountains. 



48 DANIEL WEBSTER 

And let the sacred obligations which have devolved 
on this generation, and on us, sink deep into our hearts. 
Those who established our liberty and our government 
are daily dropping from among us. The great trust now 
5 descends to new hands. Let us apply ourselves to that 
which is presented to us, as our appropriate object. We 
can win no laurels in a war for independence. Earlier 
and worthier hands have gathered them all. Nor are 
there places for us by the side of Solon, and Alfred, and 

i o other founders of states. Our fathers have filled them. 
But there remains to us a great duty of defence and 
preservation; and there is opened to us, also, a noble 
pursuit, to which the spirit of the times strongly invites 
us. Our proper business is improvement. Let our age 

15 be the age of improvement. In a day of peace, let us 
advance the arts of peace and the works of peace. Let us 
develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, 
build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and 
see whether we also, in our day and generation, ma}^ 

20 not perform something worthy to be remembered. Let 
us cultivate a true spirit of union and harmony. In 
pursuing the great objects which our condition points 
out to us, let us act under a settled conviction, and an 
habitual feeling, that these twenty-four States are one 

25 country. Let our conceptions be enlarged to the circle 
of our duties. Let us extend our ideas over the whole of 
the vast field in which we are called to act. Let our object 

be, OUR COUNTRY, OUR WHOLE COUNTRY, AND NOTHING 

but our country. And, by the blessing of God, may 
30 that country itself become a vast and splendid monument, 
not of oppression and terror, but of Wisdom, of Peace, 
and of Liberty, upon which the world may gaze with 
admiration for ever ! 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

3. THE ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE, 
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 27, 1860 

Mr. President and Fellow-Citizens of New York : 
The facts with which I shall deal this evening are mainly 
old and familiar ; nor is there anything new in the general 
use I shall make of them. If there shall be any novelty, 
it will be in the mode of presenting the facts, and the in- 5 
ferences and observations following that presentation. In 
his speech last autumn at Columbus, Ohio, as reported in 
the New York Times, Senator Douglas said : — 

Our fathers, when they framed the government 
under which we live, understood this question just io 
as well, and even better, than we do now. 

I fully indorse this, and I adopt it as a text for this 
discourse. I so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and 
an agreed starting-point for a discussion between Repub- 
licans and that wing of the Democracy headed by Senator 15 
Douglas. It simply leaves the inquiry : What was the 
understanding those fathers had of the question men- 
tioned ? 

What is the frame of government under which we 
live? The answer must be, "The Constitution of the 20 
United States." That Constitution consists of the origi- 
e 49 



50 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

nal, framed in 1787, and under which the present govern- 
ment first went into operation, and twelve subsequently 
framed amendments, the first ten of which were framed in 
1789. 
5 Who were our fathers that framed the Constitution? 
I suppose the "thirty-nine" who signed the original instru- 
ment may be fairly called our fathers who framed that 
part of the present government. It is almost exactly 
true to say they framed it, and it is altogether true to say 

i o they fairly represented the opinion and sentiment of the 
whole nation at that time. Their names, being familiar 
to nearly all, and accessible to quite all, need not now be 
repeated. 

I take these "thirty-nine," for the present, as being "our 

15 fathers who framed the government under which we live." 
What is the question which, according to the text, those 
fathers understood "just as well, and even better, than we 
do now"? 

It is this : Does the proper division of local from Federal 

20 authority, or anything in the Constitution, forbid our 
Federal Government to control as to slavery in our 
Federal Territories ? 

Upon this, Senator Douglas holds the affirmative, and 
Republicans the negative. This affirmation and denial 

25 form an issue; and this issue — this question — is pre- 
cisely what the text declares our fathers understood 
"better than we." Let us now inquire whether the 
"thirty-nine," or any of them, ever acted upon this ques- 
tion ; and if they did, how they acted upon it — how they 

30 expressed that better understanding. . . . 

Here, then, we have twenty-three out of our thirty- 
nine fathers "who framed the government under which 



ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 51 

we live," who have, upon their official responsibility and 
their corporal oaths, acted upon the very question which 
the text affirms they " understood just as well, and even 
better, than we do now"; and twenty-one of them — a 
clear majority of the whole "thirty-nine " — -so acting upon 5 
it as to make them guilty of gross political impropriety 
and willful perjury if, in their understanding, any proper 
division between local and Federal authority, or any- 
thing in the Constitution they had made themselves, and 
sworn to support, forbade the Federal Government to 10 
control as to slavery in the Federal Territories. Thus the 
twenty-one acted ; and, as actions speak louder than words, 
so actions under such responsibility speak still louder. . . . 

The sum of the whole is that of our thirty-nine fathers 
who framed the original Constitution, twenty-one — a 15 
clear majority of the whole — certainly understood that 
no proper division of local from Federal authority, nor 
any part of the Constitution, forbade the Federal Gov- 
ernment to control slavery in the Federal Territories ; 
while all the rest had probably the same understanding. 20 
Such, unquestionably, was the understanding of our 
fathers who framed the original Constitution ; and the test 
affirms that they understood the question "better than 
we." 

But, so far, I have been considering the understanding 25 
of the question manifested by the framers of the original 
Constitution. In and by the original instrument, a mode 
was provided for amending it; and, as I have already 
stated, the present frame of "the government under which 
we live" consists of that original, and twelve amendatory 30 
articles framed and adopted since. . . . 

It is surely safe to assume that the thirty-nine framers 



52 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

of the original Constitution, and the seventy-six members 
of the Congress which framed the amendments thereto, 
taken together, do certainly include those who may be 
fairly called "our fathers who framed the government 
5 under which we live." And so assuming, I defy any man 
to show that any one of them ever, in his whole life, de- 
clared that, in his understanding, any proper division of 
local from Federal authority, or any part of the Constitu- 
tion, forbade the Federal Government to control as to 

io slavery in the" Federal Territories. I go a step further. I 
defy any one to show that any living man in the whole 
world ever did, prior to the beginning of the present century 
(and I might almost say prior to the beginning of the last 
half of the present century), declare that, in his under- 

1 5 standing, any proper division of local from Federal author- 
ity, or any part of the Constitution, forbade the Federal 
Government to control as to slavery in the Federal Terri- 
tories. To those who now so declare I give not only "our 
fathers who framed the government under which we live," 

20 but with them all other living men within the century in 
which it was framed, among whom to search, and they 
shall not be able to find the evidence of a single man 
agreeing with them. 

Now, and here, let me guard a little against being mis- 

25 understood. I do not mean to say we are bound to follow 
implicitly in whatever our fathers did. To do so would 
be to discard all the lights of current experience — to 
reject all progress, all improvement. What I do say is 
that if we would supplant the opinions and policy of our 

30 fathers in any case, we should do so upon evidence so con- 
clusive, and argument so clear, that even their great 
authority, fairly considered and weighed, cannot stand; 



ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 53 

and most surely not in a case whereof we ourselves declare 
they understood the question better than we. 

If any man at this day sincerely believes that a proper 
division of local from Federal authority, or any part of the 
Constitution, forbids the Federal Government to control 5 
as to slavery in the Federal Territories, he is right to say 
so, and to enforce his position by all truthful evidence and 
fair argument which he can. But he has no right to mis- 
lead others, who have less access to history, and less leisure 
to study it, into the false belief that "our fathers who 10 
framed the government under which we live" were of the 
same opinion — thus substituting falsehood and deception 
for truthful evidence and fair argument. If any man at 
this day sincerely believes "our fathers who framed the 
government under which we live" used and applied prin- 15 
ciples, in other cases, which ought to have led them to 
understand that a proper division of local from Federal 
authority, or some part of the Constitution, forbids the 
Federal Government to control as to slavery in the Fed- 
eral Territories, he is right to say so. But he should, at 20 
the same time, brave the responsibility of declaring that, 
in his opinion, he understands their principles better than 
they did themselves ; and especially should he not shirk 
that responsibility by asserting that they "understood 
the question just as well, and even better, than we do now." 25 

But enough! Let all who believe that "our fathers 
who framed the government under which we live under- 
stood this question just as well, and even better, than we 
do now," speak as they spoke, and act as they acted upon 
it. This is all Republicans ask — all Republicans desire — 30 
in relation to slavery. As those fathers marked it, so let 
it be again marked, as an evil not to be extended, but to 



. 54 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

be tolerated and protected only because of and so far as 
its actual presence among us makes that toleration and 
protection a necessity. Let all the guaranties those fathers 
gave it be not grudgingly, but fully and fairly, maintained. 
5 For this Republicans contend, and with this, so far as I 
know or believe, they will be content. 

And now, if they would listen, — as I suppose they will 

not, — I would address a few words to the Southern people. 

I would say to them : You consider yourselves a reason- 

10 able and a just people ; and I consider that in the general 
qualities of reason and justice you are not inferior to any 
other people. Still, when you speak of us Republicans, 
you do so only to denounce us as reptiles, or, at the best, 
as no better than outlaws. You will grant a hearing to 

15 pirates or murderers, but nothing like it to " Black Repub- 
licans." In all your contentions with one another, each 
of you deems an unconditional condemnation of " Black 
Republicanism" as the first thing to be attended to. 
Indeed, such condemnation of us seems to be an indis- 

20 pensable prerequisite — license, so to speak — among 
you to be admitted or permitted to speak at all. Now 
can you or not be prevailed upon to pause and to consider 
whether this is quite just to us, or even to yourselves? 
Bring forward your charges and specifications, and then 

25 be patient long enough to hear us deny or justify. 

You say we are sectional. We deny it. That makes 
an issue ; and the burden of proof is upon you. You 
produce your proof ; and what is it ? Why, that our party 
has no existence in your section — gets no votes in your 

30 section. The fact is substantially true ; but does it prove 
the issue? If it does, then in case we should, without 
change of principle, begin to get votes in your section, we 



ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 55 

should thereby cease to be sectional. You cannot escape 
this conclusion ; and yet, are you willing to abide by it ? 
If you are, you will probably soon find that we have ceased 
to be sectional, for we shall get votes in your section this 
very year. You will then begin to discover, as the truth 5 
plainly is, that your proof does not touch the issue. The 
fact that we get no votes in your section is a fact of your 
making, and not of ours. And if there be fault in that 
fact, that fault is primarily yours, and remains so until 
you show that we repel you by some wrong principle or 10 
practice. If we do repel you by any wrong principle or 
practice, the fault is ours ; but this brings you to where 
you ought to have started — to a discussion of the right 
or wrong of our principle. If our principle, put in practice, 
would wrong your section for the benefit of ours, or for 15 
any other object, then our principle, and we with it, are 
sectional, and are justly opposed and denounced as such. 
Meet us, then, on the question of whether our principle, 
put in practice, would wrong your section; and so meet 
us as if it were possible that something may be said on our 20 
side. Do you accept the challenge? No! Then you 
really believe that the principle which "our fathers who 
framed the government under which we live" thought so 
clearly right as to adopt it, and indorse it again and again, 
upon their official oaths, is in fact so clearly wrong as to 25 
demand your condemnation without a moment's considera- 
tion. 

Some of you delight to flaunt in our faces the warning 
against sectional parties given by Washington in his 
Farewell Address. Less than eight years before Wash- 30 
ington gave that warning, he had, as President of the 
United States, approved and signed an act of Congress 



56 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

enforcing the prohibition of slavery in the Northwestern 
Territory, which act embodied the policy of the govern- 
ment upon that subject up to and at the very moment he 
penned that warning ; and about one year after he penned 
5 it, he wrote Lafayette that he considered that prohibition 
a wise measure, expressing in the same connection his 
hope that we should at some time have a confederacy of 
free States. 

Bearing this in mind, and seeing that sectionalism has 

i o since arisen upon this same subject, is that warning a 
weapon in your hands against us, or in our hands against 
you ? Could Washington himself speak, would he cast the 
blame of that sectionalism upon us, who sustain his policy, 
or upon you, who repudiate it? We respect that warn- 

1 5 ing of Washington, and we commend it to you, together 
with his example pointing to the right application of it. 

But you say you are conservative — eminently conserva- 
tive — while we are revolutionary, destructive, or some- 
thing of the sort. What is conservatism? Is it not 

20 adherence to the old and tried, against the new and un- 
tried? We stick to, contend for, the identical old policy 
on the point in controversy which was adopted by "our 
fathers who framed the government under which we live " ; 
while you with one accord reject, and scout, and spit upon 

25 that old policy, and insist upon substituting something 
new. True, you disagree among yourselves as to what 
that substitute shall be. You are divided on new proposi- 
tions and plans, but you are unanimous in rejecting and 
denouncing the old policy of the fathers. Some of you are 

30 for reviving the foreign slave-trade; some for a congres- 
sional slave code for the Territories; some for Congress 
forbidding the Territories to prohibit slavery within their 



ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 57 

limits : some for maintaining slavery in the Territories 
through the judiciary ; some for the l k ' gur-reat pur-rincipie ' ' 
that "if one man would enslave another, no third man 
should object/' fantastically called "popular sovereignty" ; 
but never a man among you is in favor of Federal prohibi- 5 
tion of slavery in Federal Territories, according to the 
practice of "our fathers who framed the government 
under which we live." Not one of all your various plans 
can show a precedent or an advocate in the century within 
which our government originated. Consider, then, 10 
whether your claim of conservatism for yourselves, and 
your charge of clestruetiveness against us, are based on 
the most clear and stable foundations. 

Again, you say we have made the slavery question more 
prominent than it formerly was. We deny it. We ad- 15 
mit that it is more prominent, but we deny that we made 
it so. It was not we, but you, who discarded the old policy 
of the fathers. We resisted, and still resist, your innova- 
tion ; and thence comes the greater prominence of the 
question. Would you have that question reduced to its 20 
former proportions? Go back to that old policy. What 
has been will be again, under the same conditions. If 
you would have the peace of the old times, readopt the 
precepts and policy of the old times. 

You charge that we stir up insurrections among your 25 
slaves. We deny it ; and what is your proof? Harper's 
Ferry ! John Brown ! ! John Brown was no Republican ; 
and you have failed to implicate a single Republican in his 
Harper's Ferry enterprise. If any member of our party 
is guilty in that matter, you know it, or you do not know it. 30 
If you do know it, you are inexcusable for not designating 
the man and proving the fact. If you do not know it, 



58 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

you are inexcusable for asserting it, and especially for 
persisting in the assertion after you have tried and failed 
to make the proof. You need not be told that persisting 
in a charge which one does not know to be true, is simply 
5 malicious slander. . . . 

John Brown's effort was peculiar. It was not a slave 
insurrection. It was an attempt by white men to get up 
a revolt among slaves, in which the slaves refused to par- 
ticipate. In fact, it was so absurd that the slaves, with all 

i o their ignorance, saw plainly enough it could not succeed. 
That affair, in its philosophy, corresponds with the many 
attempts, related in history, at the assassination of kings 
and emperors. An enthusiast broods over the oppression 
of a people till he fancies himself commissioned by Heaven 

1 5 to liberate them. He ventures the attempt, which ends 
in little less than his own execution. . . . 

And how much would it avail you, if you could, by the 
use of John Brown, Helper's Book, and the like, break up 
the Republican organization? Human action can be 

20 modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be 
changed. There is a judgment and a feeling against 
slavery in this nation, which cast at least a million and a 
half of votes. You cannot destroy that judgment and 
feeling — that sentiment — by breaking up the pglitical 

25 organization which rallies around it. . . . 

But you will break up the Union rather than submit to 
a denial of your constitutional rights. 

That has a somewhat reckless sound ; but it would be 
palliated, if not fully justified, were we proposing, by the 

30 mere force of numbers, to deprive you of some right 
plainly written down in the Constitution. But we are 
proposing no such thing. 



ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 59 

When you make these declarations you have a specific 
and well-understood allusion to an assumed constitutional 
right of yours to take slaves into the Federal Territories, 
and to hold them there as property. But no such right is 
specifically written in the Constitution. That instru- 5 
ment is literally silent about any such right. We, on the 
contrary, deny that such a right has any existence in the 
Constitution, even by implication. 

Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will 
destroy the government, unless you be allowed to construe 10 
and force the Constitution as you please, on all points 
in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in 
all events. 

This, plainly stated, is your language. Perhaps you will 
say the Supreme Court has decided the disputed constitu- 15 
tional question in your favor. Not quite so. But waiv- 
ing the lawyer's distinction between dictum and decision, 
the court has decided the question for you in a sort of way. 
The court has substantially said, it is your constitutional 
right to take slaves into the Federal Territories, and to 2 o 
hold them there as property. When I say the decision 
was made in a sort of way, I mean it was made in a divided 
court, by a bare majority of the judges, and they not 
quite agreeing with one another in the reasons for making 
it; that it is so made as that its avowed supporters dis- 25 
agree with one another about its meaning, and that it was 
mainly based upon a mistaken statement of fact — the 
statement in the opinion that "the right of property in a 
slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitu- 
tion/' 30 

An inspection of the Constitution will show that the 
right of property in a slave is not "distinctly and expressly 



60 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

affirmed" in it. Bear in mind, the judges do not pledge 
their judicial opinion that such right is impliedly affirmed 
in the Constitution ; but they pledge their veracity that 
it is "distinctly and expressly" affirmed there — "dis- 
stinctly," that is, not mingled with anything else — "ex- 
pressly," that is, in words meaning just that, without the 
aid of any inference, and susceptible of no other meaning. 
If they had only pledged their judicial opinion that such 
right is affirmed in the instrument by implication, it would 

iobe open to others to show that neither the word "slave" 
nor "slavery" is to be found in the Constitution, nor the 
word "property" even, in any connection with language 
alluding to the things slave, or slavery ; and that wherever 
in that instrument the slave is alluded to, he is called a 

is "person" ; and wherever his master's legal right in rela- 
tion to him is alluded to, it is spoken of as "service or labor 
which may be due" — as a debt payable in service or 
labor. Also it would be open to show, by contempora- 
neous history, that this mode of alluding to slaves and 

20 slavery, instead of speaking of them, was employed on pur- 
pose to exclude from the Constitution the idea that there 
could be property in man. 

To show all this is easy and certain. 

When this obvious mistake of the judges shall be brought 

25 to their notice, is it not reasonable to expect that they will 
withdraw the mistaken statement, and reconsider the con- 
clusion based upon it ? 

And then it is to be remembered that "our fathers who 
framed the government under which we live" — the 

30 men who made the Constitution — decided this same con- 
stitutional question in our favor long ago : decided it 
without division among themselves when making the deci- 



ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 61 

sion ; without division among themselves about the mean- 
ing of it after it was made, and, so far as any evidence is 
left, without basing it upon any mistaken statement of 
facts. 

Under all these circumstances, do you really feel your- 5 
selves justified to break up this government unless such a 
court decision as yours is shall be at *once submitted to as 
a conclusive and final rule of political action? But you 
will not abide the election of a Republican President ! 
In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the 10 
Union ; and then, you say, the great crime of having de- 
stroyed it will be upon us! That is cool. A highway- 
man holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through his 
teeth, "Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, and then you 
will be a murderer !" 15 

To be sure, what a robber demanded of me — my 
money — was my own ; and I had a clear right to keep it ; 
but it was no more my own than my vote is my own; 
and the threat of death to me, to extort my money, and the 
threat of destruction to the Union, to extort my vote, can 20 
scarcely be distinguished in principle. 

A few words now to the Republicans. It is exceedingly 
desirable that all parts of this great Confederacy shall be 
at peace, and in harmony one with another. Let us 
Republicans do our part to have it so. Even though 25 
much provoked, let us do nothing through passion and ill 
temper. Even though the Southern people will not so 
much as listen to us, let us calmly consider their demands, 
and yield to them if, in our deliberate view of our duty, 
we possibly can. Judging by all they say and do, and 30 
by the subject and nature of their controversy with us, 
let us determine, if we can, what will satisfy them. 



62 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Will they be satisfied if the Territories be uncondition- 
ally surrendered to them ? We know they will not. In all 
their present complaints against us, the Territories are 
scarcely mentioned. Invasions and insurrections are the 
5 rage now. Will it satisfy them if, in the future, we have 
nothing to do with invasions and insurrections ? We 
know it will not. We so know, because we know we never 
had anything to do with invasions and insurrections ; and 
yet this total abstaining does not exempt us from the 

i o charge and the denunciation. . . . 

These natural and apparently adequate means all fail- 
ing, what will convince them ? This, and this only : cease 
to call slavery wrong, and join them in calling it right. 
And this must be done thoroughly — done in acts as well 

15 as in words. Silence will not be tolerated — we must 
place ourselves avowedly with them. Senator Douglas's 
new sedition law must be enacted and enforced, suppress- 
ing all declarations that slavery is wrong, whether made 
in pohtics, in presses, in pulpits, or in private. We must 

20 arrest and return their fugitive slaves with greedy pleasure. 
We must pull down our free State constitutions. The 
whole atmosphere must be disinfected from all taint of 
opposition to slavery, before they will cease to believe 
that all their troubles proceed from us. 

25 I am quite aware they do not state their case precisely 
in this way. Most of them would probably say to us, " Let 
us alone ; do nothing to us, and say what you please about 
slavery." But we do let them alone, — have never dis- 
turbed them, — so that, after all, it is what we say which 

30 dissatisfies them. They will continue to accuse us of do- 
ing, until we cease saying. 

I am also aware they have not as yet in terms demanded 



ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE 63 

the overthrow of our free State constitutions. Yet those 
constitutions declare the wrong of slavery with more 
solemn emphasis than do all other sayings against it ; and 
when all these other sayings shall have been silenced, the 
overthrow of these constitutions will be demanded, and 5 
nothing be left to resist the demand. It is nothing to the 
contrary that they do not demand the whole of this just 
now. Demanding what they do. and for the reason they 
do, they can voluntarily stop nowhere short of this consum- 
mation. Holding, as they do, that slavery is morally right 10 
and socially elevating, they cannot cease to demand a full 
national recognition of it as a legal right and a social 
blessing. 

Not can we justifiably withhold this on any ground save 
our conviction that slavery is wrong. If slavery is right, 15 
all words, acts, laws, and constitutions against it are 
themselves wrong, and should be silenced and swept away. 
If it is right, we cannot justly object to its nationality — its 
universality; if it is wrong, they cannot justly insist upon 
its extension — its enlargement. All they ask we could 20 
readily grant, if we thought slavery right ; all we ask they 
could as readily grant, if they thought it wrong. Their 
thinking it right and our thinking it wrong is the precise 
fact upon which depends the whole controversy. Think- 
ing it right, as they do. they are not to blame for 25 
desiring its full recognition as being right ; but thinking 
it wrong, as we do, can we yield to them? Can we 
t our votes with their view, and against our own? 
In view of our moral, social, and political responsi- 
bilities, can we do this? 30 

Wrong as we think slavery is. we can yet afford to let 
it alone where it is. because that much is due to the neces- 



64 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

sity arising from its actual presence in the nation ; but can 
we, while our votes will prevent it, allow it to spread into 
the national Territories, and to overrun us here in these 
free States? If our sense of duty forbids this, then let 

S us stand by our duty fearlessly and effectively. Let us 
be diverted by none of those sophistical contrivances 
wherewith we are so industriously plied and belabored — 
contrivances such as groping for some middle ground 
between the right and the wrong : vain as the search for a 

10 man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man ; 
such as a policy of "don't care" on a question about which 
all true men do care ; such as Union appeals beseeching 
true Union men to yield to Disunionists, reversing the 
divine rule, and calling, not the sinners, but the righteous 

is to repentance ; such as invocations to Washington, im- 
ploring men to unsay what Washington said and undo what 
Washington did. 

Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accu- 
sations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of 

20 destruction to the government, nor of dungeons to our- 
selves. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in 
that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we un- 
derstand it. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

4. ADDRESSES IN INDEPENDENCE HALL, 
PHILADELPHIA, AND AT WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Address in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, 
February 22, 1861 

Mr. Cuyler : I am filled with deep emotion at find- 
ing myself standing in this place, where were collected 
together the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to 
principle, from which sprang the institutions under which 
we live. You have kindly suggested to me that in my 5 
hands is the task of restoring peace to our distracted 
country. I can say in return, sir, that all the political 
sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have 
been able to draw them, from the sentiments which orig- 
inated in and were given to the world from this hall. 10 
I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring 
from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. I have often pondered over the dangers which 
were incurred by the men who assembled here and framed 
and adopted that Declaration. I have pondered over 15 
the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of 
the army who achieved that independence. I have often 
inquired of myself what great principle or idea it was 
that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was 
not the mere matter of separation of the colonies from 20 
f 65 



66 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

the motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration 
of Independence which gave liberty not alone to the 
people of this country, but hope to all the world, for all 
future time. It was that which gave promise that in 
5 due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders 
of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. 
This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of 
Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be 
saved on that basis? If it can I will consider myself 

10 one of the happiest men in the world if I can help to save 
it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it will be 
truly awful. But if this country cannot be saved with- 
out giving up that principle, I was about to say I would 
rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it. 

15 Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs, there is 
no need of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity 
for it. I am not in favor of such a course ; and I may say 
in advance that there will be no bloodshed unless it is 
forced upon the government. The government will not 

20 use force, unless force is used against it. 

My friends, this is wholly an unprepared speech. I 
did not expect to be called on to say a word when i came 
here. I supposed I was merely to do something toward 
raising a flag. I may, therefore, have said something 

25 indiscreet. [Cries of "No, no."] But I have said noth- 
ing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be the 
pleasure of Almighty God, to die by. 

Reply to the Mayor of Washington, D.C., 
February 27, 1861 

Mr. Mayor : I thank you, and through you the mu- 
nicipal authorities of this city who accompany you, for 



REPLY TO THE MAYOR OF WASHINGTON 67 

this welcome. And as it is the first time in my life, since 
the present phase of politics has presented itself in this 
country, that I have said anything publicly within a 
region of country where the institution of slavery exists, 
I will take this occasion to say that I think very much 5 
of the ill-feeling that has existed and still exists between 
the people in the section from which I came and the people 
here, is dependent upon a misunderstanding of one another. 
I therefore avail myself of this opportunity to assure you, 
Mr. Mayor, and all the gentlemen present, that I have 10 
not now, and never have had, any other than as kindly 
feelings toward you as to the people of my own section. 
I have not now and never have had any disposition to 
treat you in any respect otherwise than as my own neigh- 
bors. I have not now any purpose to withhold from 15 
you any of the benefits of the Constitution under any 
circumstances, that I would not feel myself constrained 
to withhold from my own neighbors ; and I hope, in a 
word, that when we become better acquainted, — and 
I say it with great confidence, — we shall like each other 20 
the more. . . . 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

5. FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS, MARCH 4, 1861 

Fellow-Citizens of the United States: In compli- 
ance with a custom as old as the government itself, I 
appear before you to address you briefly, and to take in 
your presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of 
5 the United States to be taken by the President " before 
he enters on the execution of his office." 

I do not consider it necessary at present for me to 
discuss those matters of administration about which 
there is no special anxiety or excitement. 

io Apprehension seems to exist among the people of 
the Southern States that by the accession of a Repub- 
lican administration their property and their peace and 
personal security are to be endangered. There has 
never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. 

15 Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has 
all the while existed and been open to their inspection. 
It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him 
who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of 
those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, 

20 directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of 
slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have 
no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do 
so." Those who nominated and elected me did so with 
full knowledge that I had made this and many similar 

68 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 69 

declarations and never recanted them. And, more than 
this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance, and 
as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic 
resolution which I now read : 

Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the 5 
rights of the States, and especially the right of each 
State to order and control its own domestic institu- 
tions according to its own judgment exclusively, 
is essential to that balance of power on which the 
perfection and endurance of our political fabric 10 
depend, and we denounce the lawless invasion by 
armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, 
no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest 
of crimes. 

I now reiterate these sentiments; and, in doing so, 15 
I only press upon the public attention the most conclu- 
sive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the 
property, peace, and security of no section are to be in 
any wise endangered by the now incoming administra- 
tion. I add, too, that all the protection which, consist- 20 
ently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given, 
will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully 
demanded, for whatever cause — as cheerfully to one 
section as to another. 

There is much controversy about the delivering up 25 
of fugitives from sendee or labor. The clause I now read 
is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other 
of its provisions : — 

Xo person held to service or labor in one State, 
under the laws thereof, escaping into another shall, 30 



70 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be 
discharged from such service or labor, but shall 
be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such 
service or labor may be due. 

5 It is scarcely questioned that this provision was in- 
tended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what 
we call fugitive slaves ; and the intention of the lawgiver 
is the law. All members of Congress swear their support 
to the whole Constitution — to this provision as much 

ioas to any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves 
whose cases come within the terms of this clause " shall 
be delivered up," their oaths are unanimous. Now, 
if they would make the effort in good temper, could 
they not with nearly equal unanimity frame and pass 

15a law by means of which to keep good that unanimous 
oath? 

There is some difference of opinion whether this clause 
should be enforced by national or by State authority; 
but surely that difference is not a very material one. 

20 If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little 
consequence to him or to others by which authority it is 
done. And should any one in any case be content that 
his oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial con- 
troversy as to how it shall be kept ? 

25 Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not all the 
safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane 
jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be 
not, in any case, surrendered as a slave? And might it 
not be well at the same time to provide by law for the 

30 enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which 
guarantees that "the citizens of each State shall be en- 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 71 

titled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the 
several States"? 

I take the official oath to-day with no mental reserva- 
tions, and with no purpose to construe the Constitution 
or laws by any hypercritical rules. And while I do not 5 
choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as 
proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much 
safer for all, both in official and private stations, to con- 
form to and abide by all those acts which stand unre- 
pealed, than to violate any of them, trusting to find im- 10 
punity in having them held to be unconstitutional. 

It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration 
of a President under our National Constitution. Dur- 
ing that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished 
citizens have, in succession, administered the executive 15 
branch of the government. They have conducted it 
through many perils, and generally with great success. 
Yet, with all this scope of precedent, I now enter upon 
the same task for a brief constitutional term of four years 
under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the 20 
Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably 
attempted. 

I hold that, in contemplation of universal law and 
of the Constitution, the Union of these States is per- 
petual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the 25 
fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe 
to assert that no government proper ever had a provision 
in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to 
execute all the express provisions of our National Consti- 
tution, and the Union will endure forever — it being im- 30 
possible to destroy it except by some action not provided 
for in the instrument itself. 



72 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Again, if the United States be not a government proper, 
but an association of States in the nature of contract 
merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by 
less than all the parties who made it? One party to a 
5 contract may violate it — break it, so to speak ; but does 
it not require all to lawfully rescind it ? 

Descending from these general principles, we find the 
proposition that, in legal contemplation the Union is 
perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union itself. 

ioThe Union is much older than the Constitution. It was 
formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. 
It was matured and continued by the Declaration of 
Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and 
the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted 

15 and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles 
of Confederation in 1778. And, finally, in 1787 one of 
the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the 
Constitution was "to form a more perfect Union." 

But if the destruction of the Union by one or by a 

2opart only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union 
is less perfect than before the Constitution, having lost 
the vital element of perpetuity. 

It follows from these views that no State upon its 
own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union ; that 

25 resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void; 
and that acts of violence, within any State or States, 
against the authority of the United States, are insurrec- 
tionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances. 
I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution 

3 o and the laws, the Union is unbroken ; and to the extent 
of my ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself 
expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 73 

be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I 
deem to be only a simple duty on my part ; and I shall 
perform it so far as practicable, unless my rightful mas- 
ters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite 
means, or in some authoritative manner direct the con- 5 
trary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but 
only as the declared purpose of the Union that it will 
constitutionally defend and maintain itself. 

In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence ; 
and there shall be none, unless it be forced upon the 10 
national authority. The power confided to me will be 
used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places 
belonging to the government, and to collect the duties 
and imports; but beyond what may be necessary for 
these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force 15 
against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility 
to the United States, in any interior locality, shall be so 
great and universal as to prevent competent resident 
citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no 
attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people 20 
for that object. While the strict legal right may exist 
in the government to enforce the exercise of these offices, 
the attempt to do so would be so irritating, and so nearly 
impracticable withal, that I deem it better to forego for 
the time the uses of such offices. 25 

The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished 
in all parts of the Union. So far as possible, the people 
everywhere shall have that sense of perfect security 
which is most favorable to calm thought and reflection. 
The course here indicated will be followed unless current 30 
events and experience shall show a modification or change 
to be proper, and in every case and exigency my best 



74 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

discretion will be exercised according to circumstances 
actually existing, and with a view and a hope of a peaceful 
solution of the national troubles and the restoration of 
fraternal sympathies and affections. 
5 That there are persons in one section or another who 
seek to destroy the Union at all events, and are glad of 
any pretext to do it, I will neither affirm nor deny; but 
if there be such, I need address no word to them. To 
those, however, who really love the Union may I not 

i o speak? 

Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruc- 
tion of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its mem- 
ories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain 
precisely why we do it? Will you hazard so desperate 

15 a step while there is any possibility that any portion of 
the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, 
while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the 
real ones you fly from — - will you risk the commission 
of so fearful a mistake ? 

20 All profess to be content in the Union if all constitu- 
tional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that 
any right, plainly written in the Constitution, has been 
denied? I think not. Happily the human mind is so 
constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of 

25 doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in 
which a plainly written provision of the Constitution has 
ever been denied. If by the mere force of numbers a 
majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written 
constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, 

30 justify revolution — certainly would if such a right were 
a vital one. But such is not our case. All the vital 
rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly as- 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 75 

sured to them by affirmations and negations, guarantees, 
and prohibitions, in the Constitution, that controversies 
never arise concerning them. But no organic law can 
ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable 
to every question which may occur in practical adminis- s 
tration. No foresight can anticipate, nor any document 
of reasonable length contain, express provisions for all 
possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be sur- 
rendered by national or by State authority? The Con- 
stitution does not expressly say. May Congress pro- 10 
hibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does 
not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the 
Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. 

From questions of this class spring all our constitutional 
controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities 15 
and minorities. If the minority will not acquiesce, the 
majority must or the government must cease. There is 
no other alternative; for continuing the government is 
acquiescence on one side or the other. 

If a minority in such case will secede rather than ac- 20 
quiesce, they make a precedent which in turn will divide 
and ruin them; for a minority of their own will secede 
from them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled 
by such minority. For instance, why may not any por- 
tion of a new confederacy a year or two hence arbitrarily 25 
secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union 
now claim to secede from it? All who cherish disunion 
sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper 
of doing this. 

Is there such perfect identity of interests among the 30 
States to compose a new Union, as to produce harmony 
only, and prevent renewed secession? 



76 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Plainly, the central idea of secession is the essence of 
anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional 
checks and limitations, and always changing easily with 
deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, 
5 is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever 
rejects it does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or despotism. 
Unanimity is impossible ; the rule of a minority, as a 
permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible ; so that, 
rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism 

ioin some form is all that is left. 

I do not forget the position assumed by some, that 
constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme 
Court, nor do I deny that such decisions must be bind- 
ing, in any case, upon the parties to a suit, as to the object 

1 5 of that suit, while they are also entitled to a very high 
respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other 
departments of the government. And while it is obvi- 
ously possible that such decision may be erroneous in any 
given case, still the evil effect following it, being limited 

2oto that particular case, with the chance that it may be 
overruled and never become a precedent for other cases, 
can better be borne than could the evils of a different 
practice. At the same time, the candid citizen must 
confess that if the policy of the government, upon vital 

25 questions affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably 
fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they 
are made, in ordinary litigation between parties in per- 
sonal actions, the people will have ceased to be their 
own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned 

30 their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. 
Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or 
the judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 77 

to decide cases properly brought before them, and it is 
no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to 
political purposes. 

One section of our country believes slavery is right, 
and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is 5 
wrong, and ought not to be extended. This is the only 
substantial dispute. The fugitive-slave clause of the 
Constitution, and the law for the suppression of the 
foreign slave-trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, 
as any law can ever be in a community where the moral 10 
sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. 
The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obli- 
gation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, 
I think, cannot be perfectly cured ; and it would be worse 
in both cases after the separation of the sections than 15 
before. The foreign slave-trade, now imperfectly sup- 
pressed, would be ultimately revived, without restriction, 
in one section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially 
surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other. 

Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot 20 
remove our respective sections from each other, nor 
build an impassable wall between them. A husband and 
wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and 
beyond the reach of each other; but the different parts 
of our country cannot do this. They cannot but remain 25 
face to face ; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, 
must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to 
make that intercourse more advantageous or more satis- 
factory after separation than before? Can aliens make 
treaties easier than friends can make laws ? Can treaties 30 
be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can 
among friends? Suppose you go to war, you cannot 



78 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

fight always ; and when, after much loss on both sides, 
and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical 
old questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon 
you. ^ 
5 This country, with its institutions, belongs to the 
people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary 
of the existing government, they can exercise their con- 
stitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary 
right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant 

ioof the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are 
desirous of having the National Constitution amended. 
While I make no recommendation of amendments, I fully 
recognize the rightful authority of the people over the 
whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes pre- 

15 scribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under 
existing circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair 
opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. 
I will venture to add that to me the convention mode 
seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate 

20 with the people themselves, instead of only permitting 
them to take or reject propositions originated by others 
not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might 
not be precisely such as they would wish to either accept 
or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the 

25 Constitution — which amendment, however, I have 
not seen — has passed Congress, to the effect that the 
Federal Government shall never interfere with the do- 
mestic institutions of the States, including that of per- 
sons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what 

30 1 have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak 
of •! aiicular amendments so far as to say that, holding 
such a, provision to now be applied constitutional law, I 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 79 

have no objection to its being made express and irrevo- 
cable. 

The chief magistrate derives all his authority from the 
people, and they have conferred none upon him to fix 
terms for the separation of the States. The people them- 5 
selves can do this also if they choose ; but the executive, 
as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to admin- 
ister the present government, as it came to his hands, and 
to transmit it, unimpaired by him, to his successor. 

Why should there not be a patient confidence in the 10 
ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or 
equal hope in the world? In our present differences is 
either party without faith of being in the right? If the 
Almighty Ruler of Nations, with His eternal truth and 
justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the 15 
South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail 
by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American 
people. 

By the frame of the government under w^hich we live, 
this same people have wisely given their public servants 20 
but little power for mischief ; and have, with equal wis- 
dom, provided for the return of that little to their own 
hands at very short intervals. While the people retain 
their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any 
extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure 25 
the government in the short space of four years. 

My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well 
upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost 
by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of 
you in hot haste to a step which you would never take 30 
deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time ; 
but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you 



80 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution 
unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your 
own framing under it ; while the new administration will 
have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. 
5 If it were admitted that you w T ho are dissatisfied hold 
the right side in the dispute, there still is no single good 
reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, 
Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never 
yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to 

io adjust in the best way ail our present difficulty. 

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and 
not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war, The 
government will not assail you. You can have no con- 
flict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have 

15 no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, 
while I shall have the most solemn one to " preserve, pro- 
tect, and defend it." 

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. 
We must not be enemies. Though passion may have 

20 strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The 
mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle- 
field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearth- 
stone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus 
of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, 

25 by the better angels of our nature. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

6. LETTER TO HORACE GREELEY 
Executive Mansion, Washington, August 22, 1862. 

Hon. Horace Greeley: 

Dear Sir : I have just read yours of the 19th, addressed 
to myself through the New York Tribune. If there be 
in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may 
know to be erroneous, I do not, now and here, controvert 
them. If there be in it any inferences which I may believe 5 
to be falsely drawn, I do not, now and here, argue against 
them. If there be perceptible in it an impatient and 
dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend 
whose heart I have always supposed to be right. 

As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing," as you say, 10 
I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. 

I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest 
way under the Constitution. The sooner the national 
authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be 
"the Union as it was." If there be those who would not 15 
save the Union unless they could at the same time save 
slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who 
would not save the Union unless they could at the same 
time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My 
paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, 20 
and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could 
g 81 



82 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do 
it ; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would 
do it ; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving 
others alone, I would also do that. What I do about 
5 slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it 
helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear 
because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. 
I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing 
hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe 
io doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct 
errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new 
views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. 

I have here stated my purpose according to my view 
of official duty ; and I intend no modification of my oft- 
15 expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could 
be free. 

Yours, 

A. Lincoln. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

7. REPLY TO AN ADDRESS FROM THE WORKING- 
MEN OF MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, DATED 
JANUARY 19, 1863 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the 
address and resolutions which you sent me on the eve 
of the New Year. When I came, on the 4th of March, 
1861, through a free and constitutional election, to pre- 
side in the government of the United States, the country 5 
was found at the verge of civil war. Whatever might 
have been the cause, or whosesoever the fault, one duty 
paramount to all others was before me ; namely, to main- 
tain and preserve at once the Constitution and the in- 
tegrity of the Federal Republic. A conscientious purpose 10 
to perform this duty is the key to all the measures of 
administration which have been, and to all which will 
hereafter be, pursued. Under our frame of government 
and by my official oath, I could not depart from this 
purpose if I would. It is not always in the power of 15 
governments to enlarge or restrict the scope of moral re- 
sults which follow the policies that they may deem it 
necessary for the public safety from time to time to adopt. 

I have understood well that the duty of self-preservation 
rests solely with the American people ; but I have at the 20 
same time been aware that favor or disfavor of foreign 
nations might have a material influence in enlarging or 

83 



84 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

prolonging the struggle with disloyal men in which the 
country is engaged. A fair examination of history has 
served to authorize a belief that the past actions and in- 
fluences of the United States were generally regarded as 
5 having been beneficial toward mankind. I have therefore 
reckoned upon the forbearance of nations. Circum- 
stances, to some of which you kindly allude, induce me 
especially to expect that if justice and good faith should 
be practised by the United States, they would encounter 

iono hostile influence on the part of Great Britain. It is 
now a pleasant duty to acknowledge the demonstration 
you have given of your desire that a spirit of amity and 
peace toward this country may prevail in the councils of 
your queen, who is respected and esteemed in your own 

is country only more than she is by the kindred nation which 
has its home on this side of the Atlantic. 

I know and deeply deplore the sufferings which the 
working-men at Manchester, and in all Europe, are 
called to endure in this crisis. It has been often and 

20 studiously represented that the attempt to overthrow this 
government, which was built upon the foundation of 
human rights, and to substitute for it one which should 
rest exclusively on the basis of human slavery, was likely 
to obtain the favor of Europe. Through the action of 

25 our disloyal citizens, the working-men of Europe have 
been subjected to severe trials, for the purpose of forcing 
their sanction to that attempt. Under the circumstances, 
I cannot but regard your decisive utterances upon the 
question as an instance of sublime Christian heroism, 

30 which has not been surpassed in any age or in any coun- 
try. It is indeed an energetic and reinspiring assurance 
of the inherent power of truth, and of the ultimate and 



REPLY TO WORKING-MEN OF MANCHESTER 85 

universal triumph of justice, humanity, and freedom. I 
do not doubt that the sentiments you have expressed will 
be sustained by your great nation ; and, on the other hand, 
I have no hesitation in assuring you that they wall excite 
admiration, esteem, and the most reciprocal feelings of 5 
friendship among the American people. I hail this in- 
terchange of sentiment, therefore, as an augury that what- 
ever else may happen, whatever misfortune may befall 
your country or my own, the peace and friendship which 
now exist between the two nations will be, as it shall be 10 
my desire to make them, perpetual. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

8. THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, NOVEMBER 
19, 1863 

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth 
on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and 
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether 
5 that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, 
can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of 
that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that 
field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their 
lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting 

ioand proper that we should do this. 

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we can- 
not consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground. The 
brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have 
consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. 

1 5 The world will little note nor long remember what we 
say here, but it can never forget what they did here. 
It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the 
unfinished work which they who fought here have thus 
far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here 

20 dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that 
from these honored dead we take increased devotion to 
that cause for which they gave the last full measure of 
devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead 
shall not have died in vain ; that this nation, under God, 

25 shall have a new birth of freedom ; and that government 
of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not 
perish from the earth. 

86 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

9. SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS, MARCH 
4, 1865 

Fellow-Couxtrymex- : At this second appearing to 
take the oath of the presidential office, there is less occa- 
sion for an extended address than there was at the first. 
Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a course to be 
pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the ex- 5 
piration of four years, dining which public declarations 
have been constantly called forth on every point and 
phase of the great contest which still absorbs the atten- 
tion and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that 
is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, 10 
upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the 
public as to myself; and it is. I trust, reasonably satis- 
factory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the 
future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. 

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, 15 
all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending 
cavil war. All dreaded it — all sought to avert it. While 
the inaugural address was being delivered from this 
place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, 
insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it 20 
without war — seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide 
effects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; 
but one of them would make war rather than let the nation 
survive : and the other would accept war rather than let 
it perish. And the war came. 25 

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, 
not distributed generally over the Union, but localized 

87 



88 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a 
peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this in- 
terest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, 
perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for 

5 which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war ; 
while the government claimed no right to do more than to 
restrict the territorial enlargement of it. 

Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or 
the duration which it has already attained. Neither 

i o anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, 
or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each 
looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental 
and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to 
the same God ; and each invokes his aid against the other. 

15 It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a 
just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the 
sweat of other men's faces ; but let us judge not, that we 
be not judged. The prayers of both could not be an- 
swered — that of neither has been answered fully. 

20 The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the 
world because of offences ! for it must needs be that of- 
fences come ; but woe to that man by whom the offence 
cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is 
one of those offences which, in the providence of God, 

25 must needs come, but which, having continued through 
his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he 
gives to both North and South this terrible war- as the 
woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we dis- 
cern therein any departure from those divine attributes 

30 which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him? 
Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — fckat this 
mighty scourge of war may speedily pass awayr \ r et, if 



SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 89 

God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by 
the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited 
toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn 
with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the 
sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it ' 
must be said, "The judgments of the Lord are true and 
righteous altogether." 

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with 
firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let 
us strive on to finish the work we are in ; to bind up the 
nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne 
the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all 
which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace 
among ourselves, and with all nations. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

10. LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS, APRIL 11, 1865 

We meet this evening. not in sorrow, but in gladness 
of heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, 
and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, give 
hope of a righteous and speedy peace, whose joyous ex- 
spression cannot be restrained. In the midst of this, 
however, He from whom all blessings flow must not be 
forgotten. A call for a national thanksgiving is being 
prepared, and will be duly promulgated. Nor must those 
whose harder part gives us the cause of rejoicing be over- 

io looked. Their honors must not be parcelled out with 
others. I myself was near the front, and had the high 
pleasure of transmitting much of the good news to you; 
but no part of the honor for plan or execution is mine. To 
General Grant, his skilful officers and brave men, all be- 

15 longs. The gallant navy stood ready, but was not in 
reach to take active part. 

By these recent successes the reinauguration of the 
national authority — reconstruction — which has had a 
large share of thought from the first, is pressed much 

20 more closely upon our attention. It is fraught with great 
difficulty. Unlike a case of war between independent 
nations, there is no authorized organ for us to treat with 
— no one man has authority to give up the rebellion for 
any other man. We simply must begin with and mould 

25 from disorganized and discordant elements. Nor is it a 

90 



LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS 91 

small additional embarrassment that we, the loyal people, 
differ among ourselves as to the mode, manner, and 
measure of reconstruction. As a general rule, I abstain 
from reading the reports of attacks upon myself, wishing 
not to be provoked by that to which I cannot property 5 
offer an answer. In spite of this precaution, however, 
it comes to my knowledge that I am much censured for 
some supposed agency in setting up and seeking to sustain 
the new State government of Louisiana. 

In this I have done just so much as, and no more than, 10 
the public knows. In the annual message of December, 
1863, and in the accompanying proclamation, I presented 
a plan of reconstruction, as the phrase goes, which I prom- 
ised, if adopted by any State, should be acceptable to and 
sustained by the executive government of the nation. I 15 
distinctly stated that this was not the only plan which 
might possibly be acceptable, and I also distinctly pro- 
tested that the executive claimed no right to say when or 
whether members should be admitted to seats in Congress 
from such States. This plan was in advance submitted 20 
to the then Cabinet, and distinctly approved by every 
member of it. One of them suggested that I should then 
and in that connection apply the Emancipation Procla- 
mation to the theretofore • excepted parts of Virginia and 
Louisiana; that I should drop the suggestion about ap- 25 
prenticeship for freed people, and that I should omit the 
protest against my own power in regard to the admis- 
sion of members to Congress. But even he approved 
every part and parcel of the plan which has since been em- 
ployed or touched by the action of Louisiana. 30 

The new -constitution of Louisiana, declaring eman- 
cipation for the whole State, practically applies the procla- 



92 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

mation to the part previously excepted. It does not adopt 
apprenticeship for freed people, and it is silent, as it could 
not well be otherwise, about the admission of members to 
Congress. So that, as it applies to Louisiana, every 
5 member of the Cabinet fully approved the plan. The 
message went to Congress, and I received many com- 
mendations of the plan, written and verbal, and not a 
single objection to it from any professed emancipationist 
came to my knowledge until after the news reached 

i o Washington that the people of Louisiana had begun to 
move in accordance with it. From about July, 1862, I 
had corresponded with different persons supposed to be 
interested [in] seeking a reconstruction of a State gov- 
ernment for Louisiana. When the message of 1863, with the 

1 5 plan before mentioned, reached New Orleans, General 
Banks wrote me that he was confident that the people, 
with his military cooperation, would reconstruct substan- 
tially on that plan. I wrote to him and some of them to try 
it. They tried it, and the result is known. Such has been 

2omy only agency in setting up the Louisiana government. 

As to sustaining it, my promise is out, as before stated. 

But as bad promises are better broken than kept, I shall 

treat this as a bad promise, and break it whenever I shall 

be convinced that keeping it is adverse to the public in- 

2sterest; but I have not yet been so convinced. I have 
been shown a letter on this subject, supposed to be an able 
one, in which the writer expresses regret that my mind 
has not seemed to be definitely fixed on the question whether 
the seceded States, so called, are in the Union or out of it. 

30 It would perhaps add astonishment to his regret were 
he to learn that since I have found professed Union men 
endeavoring to make that question, I have purposely for- 



LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS 93 

borne any public expression upon it. As appears to me, 
that question has not been, nor yet is, a practically ma- 
terial one, and that any discussion of it, while it thus re- 
mains practically immaterial, could have no effect other 
than the mischievous one of dividing our friends. As yet, 5 
whatever it may hereafter become, that question is bad 
as the basis of a controversy, and good for nothing at all 
— a merely pernicious abstraction. 

We all agree that the seceded States, so called, are out 
of their proper practical relation with the Union, and that 10 
the sole object of the government, civil and military, in 
regard to those States is to again get them into that 
proper practical relation. I believe that it is not only 
possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or 
even considering whether these States have ever been out 15 
of the Union, than with it. Finding themselves safely at 
home, it would be utterly immaterial whether they had ever 
been abroad. Let us all join in doing the acts necessary 
to restoring the proper practical relations between these 
States and the Union, and each forever after innocently 20 
indulge his own opinion whether in doing the acts he 
brought the States from without into the Union, or only 
gave them proper assistance, they never having been out 
of it. The amount of constituency, so to speak, on which 
the new Louisiana government rests, would be more ?s 
satisfactory to all if it contained 50,000, or 30,000, or 
even 20,000, instead of only about 12,000, as it does. 
It is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise 
is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer 
that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on 30 
those who serve our cause as soldiers. 

Still, the question is not whether the Louisiana govern- 



94 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

ment, as it stands, is quite all that is desirable. The ques- 
tion is, will it be wiser to take it as it is and help to im- 
prove it, or to reject and disperse it? Can Louisiana be 
brought into proper practical relation with the Union, 
5 sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State gov- 
ernment? Some 12,000 voters in the heretofore slave 
State of Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, 
assumed to be the rightful political power of the State, 
held elections, organized a State government, adopted a 

IO free-State constitution, giving the benefit of public schools 
equally to black and white, and empowering the legislature 
to confer the elective franchise upon the colored man. 
Their legislature has already voted to ratify the con- 
stitutional amendment recently passed by Congress, 

i s abolishing slavery throughout the nation. These 12,000 
persons are thus fully committed to the Union and to 
perpetual freedom in the State — committed to the very 
things, and nearly all the things, the nation wants — 
and they ask the nation's recognition and its assistance to 

somake good their committal. 

Now, if we reject and spurn them, we do our utmost to 
disorganize and disperse them. We, in effect, say to the 
white man : You are worthless or worse ; we will neither 
help you, nor be helped by you. To the blacks we say : 

2 5 This cup of liberty which these, your old masters, hold to 
your lips we will dash from you, and leave you to the 
chances of gathering the spilled and scattered contents in 
some vague and undefined when, where, and how. If 
this course, discouraging and paralyzing both black and 

30 white, has any tendency to bring Louisiana into proper 
practical relations with the Union, I have so far been un- 
able to perceive it. If, on the contrary, we recognize 



LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS 95 

and sustain the new government of Louisiana, the con- 
verse of all this is made true. We encourage the hearts 
and nerve the arms of the 12,000 to adhere to their work, 
and argue for it, and proselyte for it, and fight for it, and 
feed it, and grow it, and ripen it to a complete success. 5 
The colored man, too, in seeing all united for him, is in- 
spired with vigilance, and energy, and daring, to the same 
end. Grant that he desires the elective franchise, will he 
not attain it sooner by saving the already advanced steps 
toward it than by running backward over them? Con- 10 
cede that the new government of Louisiana is only to 
what it should be as the egg is to the fowl, we shall sooner 
have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it. 

Again, if we reject Louisiana, we also reject one vote 
in favor of the proposed amendment to the national Con- 15 
stitution. To meet this proposition it has been argued that 
no more than three-fourths of those States which have 
not attempted secession are necessary to validly ratify the 
amendment . I do not commit myself against this further 
than to say that such a ratification would be questionable, 20 
and sure to be persistently questioned, while a ratification 
by three-fourths of all the States would be unquestioned 
and unquestionable. T repeat the question: Can Louisi- 
ana be brought into proper practical relation with the Union 
sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State gov- 25 
ernment? What has been said of Louisiana will apply 
generally to other States. And yet so great peculiarities 
pertain to each State, and such important and sudden 
changes occur in the same State, and withal so new and 
unprecedented is the whole case, that no exclusive and 30 
inflexible plan can safely be prescribed as to details and 
collaterals. Such exclusive and inflexible plan would 



96 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

surely become a new entanglement. Important princi- 
ples may and must be inflexible. In the present situ- 
ation, as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some 
new announcement to the people of the South. I am con- 
5 sidering, and shall not fail to act when satisfied that action 
will be proper. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 
11. INAUGURAL ADDRESS, MARCH 4, 1905 

Xo people on earth have more cause to be thankful 
than ours, and this is said reverently, in no spirit of 
boastfulness in our own strength, but with gratitude 
to the Giver of Good, who has blessed us with the condi- 
tions which have enabled us to achieve so large a measure 5 
of well-being and of happiness. To us as a people it 
has been granted to lay the foundations of our national 
life in a new continent. We are the heirs of the ages, 
and yet we have had to pay few of the penalties which in 
old countries are exacted by the dead hand of a bygone 10 
civilization. We have not been obliged to fight for our 
existence against any alien race ; and yet our life has 
called for the vigor and effort without which the manlier 
and hardier virtues wither away. Under such conditions 
it would be our own fault if we failed; and the success 15 
which we have had in the past, the success which we con- 
fidently believe the future will bring, should cause in us no 
feeling of vainglory, but rather a deep and abiding realiza- 
tion of all which life has offered us ; a full acknowledgment 
of the responsibility which is ours ; and a fixed determina- 20 
tion to show that under a free government a mighty 
people can thrive best, alike as regards the things of the 
body and the -things of the soul. 

Much has been given to us, and much will rightfully 
h 97 



98 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

be expected from us. We have duties to others and 
duties to ourselves ; and we can shirk neither. We have 
become a great nation, forced by the fact of its greatness 
into relations with the other nations of the earth ; and we 
5 must behave as beseems a people with such responsibilities. 
Toward all other nations, large and small, our attitude 
must be one of cordial and sincere friendship. We must 
. show not only in our words but in our deeds that we are 
earnestly desirous of securing their good will by acting 

i o toward them in a spirit of just and generous recognition of 
all their rights. But justice and generosity in a nation/ 
as in an individual, count most when shown not by the 
weak but by the strong. While ever careful to refrain 
from wronging others, we must be no less insistent that 

1 5 we are not wronged ourselves. We wish peace; but we 
wish the peace of justice, the peace of righteousness. We 
wish it because we think it is right and not because we are 
afraid. No weak nation that acts manfully and justly 
should ever have cause to fear us, and no strong power 

20 should ever be able to single us out as a subject for insolent 
aggression. 

Our relations with the other Powers of the world are 
important; but still more important are our relations 
among ourselves. Such growth in wealth, in population, 

2 5 and in power as this nation has seen during the century 
and a quarter of its national life is inevitably accompanied 
by a like growth in the problems which are ever before 
every nation that rises to greatness. Power invariably 
means both responsibility and danger. Our forefathers 

30 faced certain perils which we have outgrown. We now 
face other perils, the very existence of which it was impos- 
sible that the}' should foresee. Modern life is both com- 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS 99 

plex and intense, and the tremendous changes wrought 
by the extraordinary industrial development of the last 
half century are felt in every fiber of our social and politi- 
cal being. Never before have men tried so vast and for- 
midable an experiment as that of administering the affairs 5 
of a continent under the form of a democratic republic. 
The conditions which have told for our marvelous material 
well-being, which have developed to a very high degree our 
energy, self-reliance, and individual initiative, have also 
brought the care and anxiety inseparable from the accu- 10 
mulation of great wealth in industrial centers. Upon 
the success of our experiment much depends ; not only as 
regards our own welfare, but as regards the welfare of 
mankind. If we fail, the cause of free self-government 
throughout the world will rock to its foundations ; and 1 5 
therefore our responsibility is heavy, to ourselves, to the 
world as it is today, and to the generations yet unborn. 
There is no good reason why we should fear the future 
but there is every reason why we should face it seriously, 
neither hiding from ourselves the gravity of the problems 20 
before us nor fearing to approach these problems with the 
unbending, unflinching purpose to solve them aright. 

Yet, after all, though the problems are new, though 
the tasks set before us differ from the tasks set before 
our fathers who founded and preserved this Republic, 25 
the spirit in which these tasks must be undertaken and 
these problems faced, if our duty is to be well done, re- 
mains essentially unchanged. We know that self-govern- 
ment is difficult. We know that no people needs such 
high traits of, character as that people which seeks to 30 
govern its affairs aright through the freely expressed will 
of the freemen who compose it. But we have faith that 



100 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

we shall not prove false to the memories of the men of the 
mighty past. They did their work, they left us the splen- 
did heritage we now enjoy. We in our turn have an as- 
sured confidence that we shall he able to leave this heritage 
5 unwasted and enlarged to our children and our children's 
children. To do so we must show, not merely in great 
crises, but in the everyday affairs of life, the qualities 
of practical intelligence, of courage, of hardihood and 
endurance, and above all the power of devotion to a lofty 
i o ideal, which made great the men who founded this Re- 
public in the days of Washington, which made great the 
men who preserved this Republic in the days of Abraham 
Lincoln. 



WOODROW WILSON 

12. FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 

March 4, 1913 

There has been a change of government. It began two 
years ago, when the House of Representatives became 
Democratic by a decisive majority. It has now been 
completed. The Senate about to assemble will be Demo- 
cratic. The offices of President and Vice President have 5 
been put into the hands of Democrats. What does the 
change mean? That is the question that is uppermost 
in our minds today. That is the question I am going to 
try to answer, in order, if I may, to interpret the occa- 
sion. 10 

It means much more than the mere success of a party. 
The success of a party means little except when the Nation 
is using that party for a large and definite purpose. No 
one can mistake the purpose for which the Nation now 
seeks to use the Democratic Party. It seeks to use it 15 
to interpret a change in its own plans and point of view. 
Some old things with which we had grown familiar, and 
which had begun to creep into the very habit of our 
thought and of our lives, have altered their aspect as 
we have latterly looked critically upon them, with fresh, 20 
awakened eyes ; have dropped their disguises and shown 
themselves alien and sinister. Some new things, as we 
look frankly upon them, willing to comprehend their real 

101 



102 WOODROW WILSON 

character, have come to assume the aspect of things long 
believed in and familiar, stuff of our own convictions. 
We have been refreshed by a new insight into our own 
life. 
5 We.see that in many things that life is very great. It 
is incomparably great in its material aspects, in its body 
of wealth, in the diversity and sweep of its energy, in the 
industries which have been conceived and built up by the 
genius of individual men and the limitless enterprise of 

10 groups of men. It is great, also, very great, in its normal 
force. Nowhere else in the world have noble men and 
women exhibited in more striking forms the beauty and 
the energy of sympathy and helpfulness and counsel in 
their efforts to rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set 

1 5 the weak in the way of strength and hope. We have 
built up, moreover, a great system of government, which 
has stood through a long age as in many respects a model 
for those who seek to set liberty upon foundations that 
will endure against fortuitous change, against storm and 

20 accident. Our life contains every great thing, and con- 
tains it in rich abundance. 

But the evil has come with the good, and much fine 
gold has been corroded. With riches has come inexcus- 
able waste. We have squandered a great part of what 

25 we might have used, and have not stopped to conserve 
the exceeding bounty of nature, without which our genius 
for enterprise would have been worthless and impotent, 
scorning to be careful, shamefully prodigal as well as 
admirably efficient. We have been proud of our indus- 

30 trial achievements, but we have not hitherto stopped 
thoughtfully enough to count the human cost, the cost 
of lives snuffed out, of energies overtaxed and broken, 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 103 

the fearful physical and spiritual cost to the men and 
women and children upon whom the dead weight and 
burden of it all ha.s fallen pitilessly the years through. 
The groans and agony of it all had not reached our ears, 
the solemn, moving undertone of our life, coming up out 5 
of the mines and factories and out of every home where 
the struggle had its intimate and familiar seat. With 
the great Government went many deep secret things 
which we too long delayed to look into and scrutinize 
with candid, fearless eyes. The great Government we 10 
loved has too often been made use of for private and selfish 
purposes, and those who used it had forgotten the people. 

At last a vision has been vouchsafed us of our life as a 
whole. We see the bad and the good, the debased and 
decadent with the sound and vital. With this vision we 15 
approach new affairs. Our duty is to cleanse, to recon- 
sider, to restore, to correct the evil without impairing 
the good, tc purify and humanize every process of our 
common life without weakening or sentimentalizing it. 
There has been something crude and heartless and unfeel- 20 
ing in our haste to succeed and be great. Our thought 
has been "Let every man° look out for himself, let every 
generation look out for itself/ ' while we reared giant ma- 
chinery which made it impossible that any but those 
who stood at the levers of control should have a chance 25 
to look out for themselves. We had not forgotten our 
morals. We remembered well enough that we had set 
up a policy which we meant to serve the humblest as well 
as the most powerful, with an eye single to the standards 
of justice and fair play, and remembered it with pride. 30 
But we were very heedless and in a hurry to be great. 

We have come now to the sober second thought. The 



104 WOODROW WILSON 

scales of heedlessness have fallen from our eyes. We have 
made up our minds to square every process of our national 
life again with the standards we so proudly set up at the 
beginning and have always carried at our hearts. Our 
5 work is a work of restoration. 

We have itemized with some degree of particularity 
the things that ought to be altered and here are some of 
the chief items : A tariff which cuts us off from our proper 
part in the commerce of the world violates the just prin- 

iociples of taxation, and makes the Government a facile 
instrument in the hands of private interests; a banking 
and currency system based upon the necessity of the Gov- 
ernment to sell its bonds fifty years ago and perfectly 
adapted to concentrating cash and restricting credits; 

i s an industrial system which, take it on all its sides, 
financial as well as administrative, holds capital in lead- 
ing strings, restricts the liberties and limits the opportuni- 
ties of labor and exploits without renewing or conserving 
the natural resources of the country; a body of agricul- 

2otural activities never yet given the efficiency of great 
business undertakings or served as it should be through 
the instrumentality of science taken directly to the farm, 
or afforded the facilities of credit best suited to its practi- 
cal needs; watercourses undeveloped, waste places un- 

25 claimed, forests untended, fast disappearing without 
plan or prospect of renewal, unregarded waste heaps at 
every mine. We have studied as perhaps no other nation 
has the most effective means of production, but we have 
not studied cost or economy as we should either as organ- 

3oizers of industry, as statesmen, or as individuals. 

Nor have we studied and perfected the means by which 
Government may be put at the service of humanity, in 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 105 

safeguarding the health of the Nation, the health of its 
men and its women and its children, as well as their rights 
in the struggle for existence. This is no sentimental 
duty. The firm basis of Government is justice, not pity. 
These are matters of justice. There can be no equality 5 
of opportunity, the first essential of justice in the body 
politic, if men and women and children be not shielded 
in their lives, their very vitality, from the consequences 
of great industrial and social processes which they cannot 
alter, control, or singly cope with. Society must see to it 10 
that it does not itself crush or weaken or damage its own 
constituent parts. The first duty of law is to keep sound 
the society it serves. Sanitary laws, pure food laws, 
and laws determining conditions of labor which individuals 
are powerless to determine for themselves are intimate 15 
parts of the very business of justice and legal efficiency. 

These are some of the things we ought to do, and not 
leave the others undone, the old-fashioned, never-to-be- 
neglected, fundamental safeguarding of property and of 
individual right. This is the high enterprise of the new 20 
day : To lift everything that concerns our life as a Nation 
to the light that shines from the hearthfire of every man's 
conscience and vision of the right. It is inconceivable 
that we should do this as partisans; it is inconceivable 
that we should do it in ignorance of the facts as they 25 
are or in blind haste. We shall restore, not destroy. 
Wc shall deal with our economic system as it is and as 
it may be modified, not as it might be if we had a clean 
sheet of paper to write upon ; and step by step we shall 
make it what it should be, in the spirit of those who ques- 30 
tion their own wisdom and seek counsel and knowledge, 
not shallow self-satisfaction or the excitement of excur- 



106 WOODROW WILSON 

sions whither they cannot tell. Justice, and only justice, 
shall always be our motto. 

And yet it will be no cool process of mere science. The 
Nation has been deeply stirred, stirred by a solemn pas- 
ssion, stirred by the knowledge of wrong, of ideals lost, 
of government too often debauched and made an instru- 
ment of evil. The feelings with which we face this new 
age of right and opportunity sweep across our heart- 
strings like some air out of God's own presence, where 

i o justice and mercy are reconciled and the judge and the 
brother are one. We know our task to be no mere task 
of politics but a task which shall search us through and 
through, whether we be able to understand our time and 
the need of our people, whether we be indeed their spokes- 

15 men and interpreters, whether we have the pure heart 
to comprehend and the rectified will to choose our high 
course of action. 

This is not a day of triumph ; it is a day of dedication. 
Here muster, not the forces of the party, but the forces 

20 of humanity. Men's hearts wait upon us; men's lives 
hang in the balance; we will do. Who shall live up to 
the great trust? Who dares fail to try? I summon all 
honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking men, to 
my side. God helping me,° I will not fail them. If they 

25 will but counsel and sustain me ! 



WOODROW WILSON 

13. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

Delivered in Pbont of Ixdepexdexce Hall, 
July 4, 1914 

We are assembled to celebrate the one hundred and thirty- 
eighth anniversary of the birth of the United States. I 
suppose that we can more vividly realize the circumstances 
of that birth standing on this historic spot than it would 
be possible to realize them anywhere else. The Declara- 5 
tion of Independence was written in Philadelphia ; it was 
adopted in this historic building by which we stand. I 
have just had the privilege of sitting in the chair of the 
great man who presided over the deliberations of those 
who gave the declaration to the world. My hand rests 10 
at this moment upon the table upon which the declaration 
was signed. We can feel that we are almost in the visible 
and tangible presence of a great historic transaction. 

Have you ever read the Declaration of Independence 
or attended with close comprehension to the real character 15 
of it when you have heard it read? If you ha at, you will 
know that it is not a Fourth of July oration. The Declara- 
tion of Independence was a document preliminary to war. 
It was a vital piece of practical business, not a piece of 
rhetoric; and if you will pass beyond those preliminary 20 
passages which we are accustomed to quote about the 
rights of men and read into the heart of the document 

107 



108 WOODROW WILSON 

you will see that it is very express and detailed, that it 
consists of a series of definite specifications concerning 
actual public business of the day. Not the business of 
our day, for the matter with which it deals is past, but 
5 the business of that first revolution by which the Nation 
was set up, the business of 1776. Its general statements, 
its general declarations can not mean anything to us unless 
we append to it a similar specific body of particulars as to 
what we consider the essential business of our own day. 

io Liberty does not consist, my fellow citizens, in mere 
general declarations of the rights of man. It consists 
in the translation of those declarations into definite action. 
Therefore, standing here where the declaration was adopted, 
reading its businesslike sentences, we ought to ask our- 

15 selves what there is in it for us. There is nothing in it for 
us unless we can translate it into the terms of our own con- 
ditions and of our own lives. We must reduce it to what 
the lawyers call a bill of particulars. It contains a bill of 
particulars, but the bill of particulars of 1776. If we would 

2okeep it alive, we must fill it with a bill of particulars of 
the year 1914. 

The task to which we have constantly to readdress our- 
selves is the task of proving that we are worthy of the men 
who drew this great declaration and know what they 

25 would have done in our circumstances. Patriotism con- 
sists in some very practical things — practical in that 
they belong to the life of every day, that they wear no ex- 
traordinary distinction about them, that they are con- 
nected with commonplace duty. The way to be patriotic 

30 in America is not only to love America but to love the duty 
that lies nearest to our hand and know that in performing 
it we are serving our country. There are some gentlemen 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 109 

in Washington, for example, at this very moment who are 
showing themselves very patriotic in a way which does 
not attract wide attention but seems to belong to mere 
everyday obligations, The Members of the House and 
Senate who stay in hot Washington to maintain a quorum 5 
of the Houses and transact the all-important business of 
the Nation are doing an act of patriotism. I honor them 
for it, and I am glad to stay there and stick by them until 
the work is done. 

It is patriotic, also, to learn what the facts of our na- 10 
tional life are and to face them with candor. I have 
heard a great many facts stated about the present business 
conditions of this country, for example — a great many 
allegations of fact, at any rate, but the allegations do not 
tally with one another. And yet I know that truth always 15 
matches with truth ; and when I find some insisting that 
everything is going wrong and others insisting that every- 
thing is going right, and when I know from a wide observa- 
tion of the general circumstances of the country taken as a 
whole that things are going extremely well, I wonder what 20 
those who are crying out that things are wrong are trying 
to do. Are they trying to serve the country, or are they 
trying to serve something smaller than the country? Are 
they trying to put hope into the hearts of the men who 
work and toil every day, or are they trying to plant dis- 25 
couragement and despair in those hearts? And why do 
they cry that everything is wrong and yet do nothing to 
set it right ? If they love America and anything is wrong 
amongst us, it is their business to put their hand with ours 
to the task of setting it right. When the facts are known 30 
and acknowledged, the duty of all patriotic men is to accept 
them in candor and to address themselves hopefully and 



110 WOODROW WILSON 

confidently to the common counsel which is necessary to 
act upon them wisely and in universal concert. 

I have had some experiences in the last fourteen months 
which have not been entirely reassuring. It was univer- 
5 sally admitted, for example, my fellow citizens, that the 
banking system of this country needed reorganization. 
We set the best minds that we could find to the task of 
discovering the best method of reorganization. But we 
met with hardly anything but criticism from the bankers 

i oof the country; we met with hardly anything but resist- 
ance from the majority of those at least who spoke at all 
concerning the matter. And yet so soon as that act° was 
passed there was a universal chorus of applause, and the 
very men who had opposed the measure joined in that 

is applause. If it was wrong the day before it was passed, 
why was it right the day after it was passed? Where 
had been the candor of criticism not only, but the concert 
of counsel which makes legislative action vigorous and safe 
and successful ? 

20 It is not patriotic to concert measures against one 
another; it is patriotic to concert measures for one 
another. 

In one sense the Declaration of Independence has lost 
its significance. It has lost its significance as a declara- 

2 5tion of national independence. Nobody outside of Amer- 
ica believed when it was uttered that we could make good 
our independence ; now nobody anywhere would dare to 
doubt that we are independent and can maintain our in- 
dependence. As a declaration of independence, therefore, 

30 it is a mere historic document. Our independence is a 
fact so stupendous that it can be measured only by the 
size and energy and variety and wealth and power of one 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 111 

of the greatest nations in the world. But it is one thing 
to be independent and it is another thing to know what to 
do with your independence. It is one thing to come to 
your majority and another thing to know what you are 
going to do with your life and your energies ; and one of 5 
the most serious questions for sober-minded men to ad- 
dress themselves to in the United States is this : What are 
we going to do with the influence and power of this great 
Nation? Are we going to play the old role of using that 
power for our aggrandizement and material benefit only? 10 
You know what that may mean. It may upon occasion 
mean that we shall use it to make the people of other 
nations suffer in the way in which we said it was intoler- 
able to suffer when we uttered our Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, is 

The Department of State at Washington is constantly 
called upon to back up the commercial enterprises and 
the industrial enterprises of the United States in foreign 
countries, and it at one time went so far in that direction 
that all its diplomacy came to be designated as " dollar 20 
diplomacy." It was called upon to support every man who 
wanted to earn anything anywhere if he was an American. 
But there ought to be a limit to that. There is no man who 
is more interested than I am in carrying the enterprise 
of American business men to every quarter of the globe. 25 
I was interested in it long before I was suspected of being 
a politician. I have been preaching it year after year 
as the great thing that lay in the future for the United 
States, to show her wit and skill and enterprise and influ- 
ence in every country in the world. But observe the limit 30 
to all that which is laid upon us perhaps more than upon 
any other nation in the world. We set this Nation up, at 



112 WOOD ROW WILSON 

any rate we professed to set it up, to vindicate the rights 
of men. We did not name any differences between one 
race and another. We did not set up any barriers against 
any particular people. We opened our gates to all the 
5 world and said, "Let all men who wish to be free come to 
us and they will be welcome." We said, "This inde- 
pendence of ours is not a selfish thing for our own exclusive 
private use. It is for everybody to whom we can find 
the means of extending it." We can not with that oath 

10 taken in our youth, we can not with that great ideal set 
before us when we were a young people and numbered 
only a scant 3,000,000, take upon ourselves, now that we 
are 100,000,000 strong, any other conception of duty than 
we then entertained. If American enterprise in foreign 

15 countries, particularly in those foreign countries which 
are not strong enough to resist us, takes the shape of im- 
posing upon and exploiting the mass of the people of that 
country it ought to be checked and not encouraged. I am 
willing to get anything for an American that money and 

20 enterprise can obtain except the suppression of the rights 
of other men. I will, not help any man buy a power 
which he ought not to exercise over his fellow beings. 

You know, my fellow countrymen, what a big ques- 
tion there is in Mexico. Eighty-five per cent of the Mexi- 

25 can people have never been allowed to have any genuine 
participation in their own Government or to exercise any 
substantial rights with regard to the very land they live 
upon. All the rights that men most desire have been ex- 
ercised by the other fifteen per cent. Do you suppose 

30 that that circumstance is not sometimes in my thought? 
I know that the American people have a heart that~%ill 
beat just as strong for those millions in Mexico as it will 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 113 

beat, or has beaten, for any other millions elsewhere in the 
world, and that when once they conceive what is at stake 
in Mexico they will know what ought to be done in Mexico. 
I hear a great deal said about the loss of property in Mexico 
and the loss of the lives of foreigners, and I deplore these 5 
things with all my heart. Undoubtedly, wpon the con- 
clusion of the present disturbed conditions in Mexico 
those who have been unjustly deprived of their property 
or in any wise unjustly put upon ought to be compensated. 
Men's individual rights have no doubt been invaded, and 10 
the invasion of those rights has been attended by many 
deplorable circumstances which ought sometime, in the 
proper way, to be accounted for. But back of it all is 
the struggle of a people to come into its own, and while 
we look upon the incidents in the foreground let us not 15 
forget the great tragic reality in the background which 
towers above the whole picture. 

A patriotic American is a man who is not niggardly 
and selfish in the things that he enjoys that make for 
human liberty and the rights of man. He wants to share 20 
them with the whole world, and he is never so proud of 
the great flag under which he lives as when it comes to 
mean to other people as well as to himself a symbol of 
hope and liberty. I would be ashamed of this flag if it 
did anything outside America that we would not permit 25 
it to do inside of America. 

The world is becoming more complicated every day, 
my fellow citizens. No man ought to be foolish enough 
to think that he understands it all. And, therefore, I 
am glad that there are some simple things in the world. 30 
One of the simple things is principle. Honesty is a per- 
fectly simple thing. It is hard for me to believe that in 



114 WOODROW WILSON 

most circumstances when a man has a choice of ways he 
does not know which is the right way and which is the 
wrong way. No man who has chosen the wrong way 
ought even to come into Independence Square ; it is holy 

5 ground which he ought not to tread upon. He ought not 
to come where immortal voices have uttered the great 
sentences of such a document as this Declaration of Inde- 
pendence upon which rests the liberty of a whole nation. 
And so I say that it is patriotic sometimes to prefer 

iothe honor of the country to its material interest. Would 
you rather be deemed by all the nations of the world in- 
capable of keeping your treaty obligations in order that 
you might have free tolls for American ships? The 
treaty under which we gave up that right may have been 

15 a mistaken treaty, but there was no mistake about its 
meaning. 

When I have made a promise as a man I try to keep 
it, and I know of no other rule permissible to a nation. 
The most distinguished nation in the world is the nation 

20 that can and will keep its promises even to its own hurt. 
And I want to say parenthetically that I do not think 
anybody was hurt. I cannot be enthusiastic for subsidies 
to a monopoly, but let those who are enthusiastic for 
subsidies ask themselves whether they prefer subsidies to 

25 unsullied honor. 

The most patriotic man, ladies and gentlemen, is some- 
times the man who goes in the direction that he thinks 
right even when he sees half the world against him. It is 
the dictate of patriotism to sacrifice yourself if you think 

30 that that is the path of honor and of duty. Do not blame 
others if they do not agree with you. Do not die with 
bitterness in your heart because you did not convince the 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 115 

rest of the world, but die happy because you believe that 
you tried to serve your country by not selling your soul. 
Those were grim days, the days of 1776. Those gentle- 
men did not attach their names to the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence on this table expecting a holiday on the next 5 
day, and that 4th of July was not itself a holiday. They 
attached their signatures to that significant document 
knowing that if they failed it was certain that every one 
of them would hang for the failure. They were commit- 
ting treason in the interest of the liberty of 3,000,000 io 
people in America. All the rest of the world was against 
them and smiled with cynical incredulity at the audacious 
undertaking. Do you think that if they could see this 
great Nation now they would regret anj^thing that they 
then did to draw the gaze of a hostile world upon them? 15 
Every idea must be started by somebody, and it is a lonely 
thing to start anything. Yet if it is in you, you must 
start it if you have a man's blood in you and if you love 
the country that you profess to be working for. 

I am sometimes very much interested when I see gentle- 20 
men supposing that popularity is the way to success in 
America. The way to success in this great country, with 
its fair judgments, is to show that you are not afraid of 
anybody except God and His final verdict. If I did not 
believe that, I would not believe in democracy. If I did 25 
not believe that, I would not believe that people can govern 
themselves. If I did not believe that the moral judgment 
would be the last judgment, the final judgment, in the ' 
minds of men as well as the tribunal of God, I could not 
believe in popular government. But I do believe these 30 
things, and,- therefore, I earnestly believe in the democracy 
not only of America but of every awakened people 



116 WOODROW WILSON 

that wishes and intends to govern and control its own 
affairs. 

It is very inspiring, my friends, to come to this that 
may be called the original fountain of independence and 
5 liberty in America and here drink draughts of patriotic 
feeling which seem to renew the very blood in one's veins. 
Down in Washington sometimes when the days are hot 
and the business presses intolerably and there are so many 
things to do that it does not seem possible to do anything 
i o in the way it ought to be done, it is always possible to lift 
one's thought above the task of the moment, and as it 
were, to realize that great thing of which we are all parts, 
the great body of American feeling and American principle. 
No man could do the work that has to be done in Wash- 
ington if he allowed himself to be separated from that 
body of principle. He must make himself feel that he is 
a part of the people of the United States, that he is trying 
to think not only for them, but with them, and then he 
can not feel lonely. He not only can not feel lonely but 
20 he can not feel afraid of anything. 

My dream is that as the years go on and the world 

knows more and more of America it will also drink at these 

fountains of youth and renewal ; that it also will turn to 

America for those moral inspirations which lie at the basis 

25 of all freedom; that the world will never fear America 

unless it feels that it is engaged in some enterprise which is 

inconsistent with the rights of humanity; and that 

America will come into the full light of the day when all 

shall know that she puts human rights above all other 

30 rights and that her flag is the flag not only of America but 

of humanity. 

What other great people has devoted itself to this ex- 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 117 

alted ideal? To what other nation in the world can all 
eyes look for an instant sympathy that thrills the whole 
body politic when men anywhere are fighting for their 
rights? I do not know that there will ever be a declara- 
tion of independence and of grievances for mankind, but 5 
I believe that if any such document is ever drawn it will 
be drawn in the spirit of the American Declaration of 
Independence, and that America has lifted high the light 
which will shine unto all generations and guide the feet 
of mankind to the goal of justice and liberty and peace, ic 



WOODROW WILSON 

14. THE PAN-AMERICAN PROGRAM 

Extract from an Address Delivered in Washington, 
January 6, 1916 

The Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed by the United 
States on her own authority. It has always been main- 
tained, and always will be maintained, upon her own 
responsibility. But the Monroe Doctrine demanded 
5 merely that European Governments should not attempt 
to extend their political systems to this side of the At- 
lantic. It did not disclose the use which the United 
States intended to make of her power on this side of the 
Atlantic. It was a hand held up in warning, but there 

iowas no promise in it of what America was going to do 
with the implied and partial protectorate which she ap- 
parently was trying to set up on this side of the water, 
and I believe you will sustain me in the statement that it 
has been fears and suspicions on this score which have 

15 hitherto prevented the greater intimacy and confidence 
and trust between the Americans. The states of America 
have not been certain what the United States would do 
with her power. That doubt must be removed. And 
latterly there has been a very frank interchange of views 

20 between the authorities in Washington and those who 
represented the other states of this hemisphere, an in- 
terchange of views charming and hopeful, because based 

118 



THE PAN-AMERICAN PROGRAM 119 

upon an increasingly sure appreciation of the spirit in 
which they were undertaken. These gentlemen have seen 
that, if America is to come into her own, into her legitimate 
own, in a world of peace and order, she must establish the 
foundations of amity, so that no one will hereafter doubt 5 
them. 

I hope and I believe that -this can be accomplished. 
These conferences have enabled me to foresee how it will 
be accomplished. It will be accomplished, in the first 
place, by the states of America uniting in guaranteeing to 10 
each other absolute political independence and territorial 
integrity. In the second place, and as a necessary corol- 
lary to that, guaranteeing the agreement to settle all 
pending boundary disputes as soon as possible and by ami- 
cable process ; by agreeing that all disputes among them- 15 . 
selves, should they unhappily arise, will be handled by 
patient, impartial investigation and settled by arbitra- 
tion ° ; and the agreement necessary to the peace of the 
Americas, that no state of either continent will permit 
revolutionary expeditions against another state to be 20 
fitted out on its territory, and that they will prohibit the 
exportation of the munitions of war° for the purpose of 
supplying revolutionists against neighboring Governments. 

You see what our thought is, gentlemen, not only the 
international peace of America, but the domestic peace 25 
of America. If American states are constantly in fer- 
ment, if any of them are constantly in ferment, there will 
be a standing threat to their relations with one another. 
It is just as much to our interest to assist each other to the 
orderly processes within our own borders as it is to orderly 30 
processes in' our controversies with one another. These 
are very practical suggestions which have sprung up in 



120 WOODROW WILSON 

the minds of thoughtful men, and I, for my part, believe 
that they are going to lead the way to something that 
America has prayed for for many a generation. For they 
are based, in the first place, so far as the stronger states 

5 are concerned, upon the handsome principle of self- 
restraint and respect for the rights of everybody. They 
are based upon the principles of absolute political equality 
among the states, equality of right, not equality of in- 
dulgence. 

I0 They are based, in short, upon the solid, eternal founda- 
tions of justice and humanity. No man can turn away 
from these things without turning away from the hope of 
the world. These are things, ladies and gentlemen, for 
which the world has hoped and waited with prayerful 

z 5 heart. God grant that it may be granted to America to 
lift this light on high for the illumination of the world. 



WOODROW WILSON 

15. THE TRADITIONS OF AMERICA 

Extract from an Address, April 17, 1916 

Tradition is a handsome thing in proportion as we 
live up to it. If we fall away from the tradition of the 
fathers, we have dishonored them. If we forget the 
tradition of the fathers, we have changed our char- 
acter; we have lost an old impulse; we have becomes 
unconscious of the principles in which the life of the 
nation itself is rooted and grounded. . . . No other 
nation was ever born into the world with the purpose of 
serving the rest of the world just as much as it served itself. 

The purpose of this nation was in one sense to afford io 
an asylum to men of all classes and kinds who desired to 
be free and to take part in the administration of a self- 
governed Commonwealth. It was founded in order that 
men of every sort should have proof given that a. Common- 
wealth of that sort was practicable, not only, but could 15 
win its standing of distinction and power among the 
nations of the world, and America will have forgotten her 
traditions whenever upon any occasion she fights merely 
for herself under such circumstances as will show that she 
has forgotten to fight for all mankind. And the only 20 
excuse that America can ever have for the assertion of 
her physical- force is that she asserts it in behalf of the 
interest of humanity. 

121 



122 WOODROW WILSON 

What a splendid thing it is to have so singular a tra- 
dition — a tradition of unselfishness ! When America 
ceases to be unselfish, she will cease to be America. When 
she forgets the traditions of devotion to human rights in 
5 general, which gave spirit and impulse to her founders, 
she will have lost her title deeds to her nationality. 



WOODROW WILSON 

16. AMERICANIZATION AND LOYALTY 

Address Delivered before the Convention on Citi- 
zenship, Wilson Normal School Building, Wash- 
ington, D.C., July 13, 1916. 

I have come here for the simple purpose of expressing 
my very deep interest in what these conferences are 
intended to attain. It is not fair to the great multitudes 
of hopeful men and women who press into this country 
from other countries that we should leave them without 5 
that friendly and intimate instruction which will enable 
them very soon after they come to find out what America 
is like at heart and what America is intended for among 
the nations of the world. 

I believe that the chief school that these people must 10 
attend after they get here is the school which all of us 
attend, which is furnished by the life of the communities 
in which we live and the nation to which we belong. 
It has been a very touching thought to me sometimes to 
think of the hopes which have drawn these people to 15 
America. I have no doubt that many a simple soul has 
been thrilled by that great statue standing in the harbor 
of New York and seeming to lift the light of liberty for 
the guidance of the feet of men ; and I can imagine that 
they have expected here something ideal in the treatment 20 

123 



124 WOODROW WILSON 

that they will receive, something ideal in the laws which 
they would have to live under, and it has caused me many 
a time to turn upon myself the eye of examination to see 
whether there burned in me the true light of the American 
5 spirit which they expected to find here. It is easy, my 
fellow-citizens, to communicate physical lessons, but it 
is very difficult to communicate spiritual lessons. America 
was intended to be a spirit among the nations of the world, 
and it is the purpose of conferences like this to find out 

iothe best way to introduce the newcomers to this spirit, 
and by that very interest in them to enhance and purify 
in ourselves the thing that ought to make America great 
and not only ought to make her great, but ought to make 
her exhibit a spirit unlike any other nation in the world. 

is I have never been among those who felt comfortable 
in boasting of the superiority of America over other 
countries. The way to cure yourself of that is to travel 
in other countries and find out how much of nobility and 
character and fine enterprise there is everywhere in the 

20 world. The most that i^jnerica can hope to do is to show, 
it may be, the finest example, not the only example, of 
the things that ought to benefit and promote the progress 
of the world. 

So my interest in this movement is as much an interest 

25 in ourselves as in those whom we are trying to Americanize, 
because if we are genuine Americans they cannot avoid the 
infection ; whereas, if. we are not genuine Americans, there 
will be nothing to infect them with, and no amount of 
teaching, no amount of exposition of the Constitution, — 

30 which I find very few persons understand, — no amount of 
dwelling upon the idea of liberty and of justice will 
accomplish the object we have in view, unless we our- 



AMERICANIZATION AND LOYALTY 125 

selves illustrate the idea of justice and of liberty. My 
interest in this movement is, therefore, a two-fold interest. 
I believe it will assist us to become self-conscious in 
respect of the fundamental ideas of American life. When 
you ask a man to be loyal to a government, if he comes 5 
from some foreign countries, his idea is that he is expected 
to be loyal to a certain set of persons like a ruler or a 
body set in authority over him, but that is not the Ameri- 
can idea. Our idea is that he is to be loyal to certain 
objects in life, and that the only reason he has a President 10 
and a Congress and a Governor and a State Legislature 
and courts is that the community shall have instrumen- 
talities by which to promote those objects. It is a co- 
operative organization expressing itself in this Con- 
stitution, expressing itself in these laws, intending to 15 
express itself in the exposition of those laws by the 
courts ; and the idea of America is not so much that 
men are to be restrained and punished by the law as in- 
structed and guided by the law. That is the reason so 
many hopeful reforms come to grief. A law cannot 20 
work until it expresses the spirit of the community for 
which it is enacted, and if you try to enact into law what 
expresses only the spirit of a small coterie or of a small 
minority, you know, or at any rate you ought to know, 
beforehand that it is not going to work. The object of 25 
the law is that there, written upon these pages, the 
citizen should read the record of the experience of this 
state and nation ; what they have concluded it is necessary 
for them to do because of the life they have lived and the 
things that, they have discovered to be elements in that 30 
life. So that we ought to be careful to maintain a govern- 
ment at which the immigrant can look with the closest 



126 WOODROW WILSON 

scrutiny and to which he should be at liberty to address 
this question: "You declare this to be a land of liberty 
and of equality and of justice ; have you made it so by your 
law?" We ought to be able in our schools, in our night 
5 schools, and in every other method of instructing these 
people, to show them that that has been our endeavor. 
We cannot conceal from them long the fact that we are 
just as human as any other nation, that we are just as 
selfish, that there are just as many mean people amongst 

10 us as anywhere else, that there are just as many people 
here who want to take advantage of other people as you 
can find in other countries, just as many cruel people, 
just as many people heartless when it comes to maintaining 
and promoting their own interest ; but you can show that 

15 our object is to get these people in harness and see to it 
that they do not do any damage and are not allowed to 
indulge the passions which would bring injustice and 
calamity at last upon a nation whose object is spiritual 
and not material. 

20 America has built up a great body of wealth. America 
has become, from the physical point of view, one of the 
most powerful nations in the world, a nation which if it 
took the pains to do so, could build that power up into 
one of the most formidable instruments in the world, 

25 one of the most formidable instruments of force, but 
which has no other idea than to use its force for ideal 
objects and not for self-aggrandizement. 

We have been disturbed recently, my fellow-citizens, 
by certain symptoms which have showed themselves 

30 in our body politic. Certain men, — I have never be- 
lieved a great number, — born in other lands, have in 
recent months thought more of those lands than they 



AMERICANIZATION AND LOYALTY 127 

have of the honor and interest of the government under 
which they are now living. They have even gone so far 
as to draw apart in spirit and in organization from the 
rest of us to accomplish some special object of their own. 
I am not here going to utter any criticism of these people, 5 
but I want to say this, that such a thing as that is abso- 
lutely incompatible with the fundamental idea of loyalty, 
and that loyalty is not a self-pleasing virtue. I am hot 
bound to be loyal to the United States to please myself. 
I am bound to be loyal to the United States because 10 
I live under its laws and am its citizen, and whether 
it hurts me or whether it benefits me, I am obliged to be 
loyal. Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart 
the absolute principle of self-sacrifice. Loyalty means 
that you ought to be ready to sacrifice every interest 15 
that you have, and your life itself, if your country calls 
upon you to do so, and that is the sort of loyalty which 
ought to be inculcated into these newcomers, that they 
are not to be loyal only so long as they are pleased, but 
that, having once entered into this sacred relationship, 20 
they are bound to be loyal whether they are pleased or 
not ; and that loyalty which is merely self-pleasing is 
only self-indulgence and selfishness. No man has ever 
risen to the real stature of spiritual manhood until he has 
found that it is finer to serve somebody else than it is to 25 
serve himself. 

These are the conceptions which we ought to teach 
the newcomers into our midst, and we ought to realize 
that the life of every one of us is part of the schooling, 
and that we cannot preach loyalty unless we set the 30 
example, that we cannot profess things with any influence 
upon others unless we practice them also. This process 



128 WOODROW WILSON 

of Americanization is going to be a process of self- 
examination, a process of purification, a process of rededi- 
cation to the things which America represents and is 
proud to represent. And it takes a great deal more 
5 courage and steadfastness, my fellow-citizens, to represent 
ideal things than to represent anything else. It is easy to 
lose your temper, and hard to keep it. It is easy to strike 
and sometimes very difficult to refrain from striking, and I 
think you will agree with me that we are most justified 

ioin being proud of doing the things that are hard to do and 
not the things that are easy. You do not settle things 
quickly by taking what seems to be the quickest way to 
settle them. You may make the complication just that 
much the more profound and inextricable, and, therefore, 

15 what I believe America should exalt above everything else 
is the sovereignty of thoughtfulness and sympathy and 
vision as against the grosser impulses of mankind. No 
nation can live without vision, and no vision will exalt a 
nation except the vision of real liberty and real justice 

20 and purity of conduct. 



WOODROW WILSON 

17. ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Address Delivered at the Time of the Formal 
Acceptance by the War Department of the 
Memorial Gift to the Nation of the Lincoln 
Birthplace Farm at Hodgenville, Kentucky, 
September 4, 1916. 

Xo more significant memorial could have been pre- 
sented to the nation than this. It expresses so much 
of wha^ is singular and noteworthy in the history of the 
country ; it suggests so many of the things that we prize 
most highly in our life and in our system of government, s 
How eloquent this little house within this shrine is of the 
vigor of democracy! There is nowhere in the land any 
home so remote, so humble, that it may not contain the 
power of mind and heart and conscience to which nations 
yield and history submits its processes. Nature pays no 10 
tribute to aristocracy, subscribes to no creed of caste, 
renders fealty to no monarch or master of any name or 
kind. Genius is no snob. It does not run after titles or 
seek by preference the high circles of society. It affects 
humble company as well as great. It pays no special is 
tribute to universities or learned societies or conventional 
standards of greatness, but serenely chooses its own com- 
rades, its own haunts, its own cradle even, and its own 
k 120 



130 WOOD ROW WILSON 

life of adventure and of training. Here is proof of it. 
This little hut was the cradle of one of the great sons of 
men, a man of singular, delightful, vital genius who pres- 
ently emerged upon the great stage of the nation's 

5 history, gaunt, shy, ungainly, but dominant and majestic, 
a natural ruler of men, himself inevitably the central 
figure of the great plot. No man can explain this, but 
every man can see how it demonstrates the vigor of democ- 
racy, where every door is open, in every hamlet and 

i o countryside, in city and wilderness alike, for the ruler to 
emerge when he will and claim his leadership in the free 
life. Such are the authentic proofs of the validity and 
vitality of democracy. 

Here, no less, hides the mystery of democracy. Who 

15 shall guess this secret of nature and providence and a free 
polity? Whatever the vigor and vitality of the stock 
from which he sprang, its mere vigor and soundness do 
not explain where this man got his great heart that seemed 
to comprehend all mankind in its catholic and benignant 

20 sympathy, the mind that sat enthroned behind those 
brooding, melancholy eyes, whose vision swept many an 
horizon which those about him dreamed not of, — that 
mind that comprehended what it had never seen, and 
understood the language of affairs with the ready ease 

25 of one to the manner born, — or that nature which seemed 
in its varied richness to be the familiar of men of every 
way of life. This is the sacred mystery of democracy; 
that its richest fruits spring up out of soils which no man 
has prepared and in circumstances amidst which they are 

30 the least expected. This is a place alike of mystery and 
of reassurance. 

It is likely that in a society ordered otherwise than our 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 131 

own Lincoln could not have found himself or the path of 
fame and power upon which he walked serenely to his 
death. In this place it is right that we should remind 
ourselves of the solid and striking facts upon which our 
faith in democracy is founded . Many another man besides 5 
Lincoln has served the nation in its highest places of 
counsel and of action whose origins were as humble as 
his. Though the greatest example of the universal energy, 
richness, stimulation, and force of democracy, he is only 
one example among many. The permeating and all- 10 
pervasive virtue of the freedom which challenges us in 
America to make the most of every gift and power we 
possess every page of our history serves to emphasize 
and illustrate. Standing here in this place, it seems 
almost the whole of the stirring story. 15 

Here Lincoln had his beginnings. Here the end and 
consummation of that great life seem remote and a bit 
incredible. And yet there was no break anywhere between 
beginning and end, no lack of natural sequence anywhere. 
Nothing really incredible happened. Lincoln was un- 20 
affectedly as much at home in the White House as he was 
here. Do you share with me the feeling, I wonder, that 
he was permanently at home now r here? It seems to me 
that in the case of a man, — I would rather say of a spirit, — 
like Lincoln the question where he was is of little signifi- 25 
cance, that it is always what he was that really arrests 
our thought and takes hold of our imagination. It is 
the spirit always that is sovereign. Lincoln, like the rest 
of us, was put through the discipline of the w T orld, — a 
very rough and exacting discipline for him, an indispensable 30 
discipline for" every man who would know what he is 
about in the midst of the world's affairs ; but his spirit 



132 WOODROW WILSON 

got only its schooling there. It did not derive its char- 
acter or its vision from the experiences which brought it to 
its full revelation. The test of every American must 
always be, not where he is, but what he is. That, also, 
5 is of the essence of democracy, and is the moral of which 
this place is most gravely expressive. 

We would like to think of men like Lincoln and Wash- 
ington as typical Americans, but no man can be typical 
who is so unusual as these great men were. It was typical 

ioof American life that it should produce such men with 
supreme indifference as to the manner in which it produced 
them, and as readily here in this hut as amidst the little 
circle of cultivated gentlemen to whom Virginia owed so 
much in leadership and example. And Lincoln and 

15 Washington were typical Americans in the use they made 
of their genius. But there will be few such men at best, 
and we will not look into the mystery of how and why 
they come. We will only keep the door open for them 
always, and a hearty welcome, — after we have recognized 

20 them. 

I have read many biographies of Lincoln; I have 
sought out with the greatest interest the many intimate 
stories that are told of him, the narratives of near-by 
friends, the sketches at close quarters, in which those who 

25 had the privilege of being associated with him have tried 
to depict for us the very man himself "in his habit as he 
lived "°; but I have nowhere found a real intimate of 
Lincoln's. I nowhere get the impression in any narrative 
or reminiscence that the writer had in fact penetrated to 

30 the heart of his mystery, or that any man could penetrate 
to the heart of it. That brooding spirit had no real 
familiars. I get the impression that it never spoke out 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 133 

in complete self-revelation, and that it could not reveal 
itself completely to anyone. It was a very lonely spirit 
that looked out from underneath those shaggy brows and 
comprehended men without fully communing with them, 
as if, in spite of all its genial efforts at comradeship, it 5 
dwelt apart, saw its visions of duty where no man looked 
on. There is a very holy and very terrible isolation for 
the conscience of every man who seeks to read the destiny 
in affairs for others as well as for himself, for a nation as 
well as for individuals. That privacy no man can intrude 10 
upon. That lonely search of the spirit for the right 
perhaps no man can assist. This strange child of the 
cabin kept company with invisible things, was born into 
no intimacy but that of its own silently assembling and 
deploying thoughts. 15 

I have come here today, not to utter a eulogy on Lin- 
coln ; he stands in need of none, but to endeavor to interpret 
the meaning of this gift to the nation of the place of his 
birth and origin. Is not this an altar upon which we may 
forever keep alive the vestal fire of democracy as upon a 20 
shrine at which some of the deepest and most sacred hopes 
of mankind may from age to age be rekindled? For 
these hopes must constantly be rekindled, and only those 
who live can rekindle them. The only stuff that can retain 
the life-giving heat is the stuff of living hearts. And the 25 
hopes of mankind cannot be kept alive by words merely, 
by constitutions and doctrines of right and codes of liberty. 
The object of democracy is to transmute these into the life 
and action of society, the self-denial and self-sacrifice of 
heroic men and women willing to make their lives an 30 
embodiment of right and service and enlightened purpose. 
The commands of democracy are as imperative as its 



134 WOOD ROW WILSON 

privileges and opportunities are wide and generous. Its 
compulsion is upon us. It will be great and lift a great 
light for the guidance of the nations only if we are great 
and carry that light high for the guidance of our own feet. 
5 We are not worthy to stand here unless we ourselves be in 
deed and in truth real democrats and servants of mankind, 
ready to give our very lives for the freedom and justice 
and spiritual exaltation of the great nation which shelters 
and nurtures us. 



WOODROW WILSON 

18. THE FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE 

Part of the Address Delivered before the Senate 
of the United States, January 22, 1917 

If the peace presently to be made is to endure it must 
be a peace made secure by the organized major force of 
mankind. 

The terms of the immediate peace agreed upon will 
determine whether it is a peace for which such a guarantee 5 
can be secured. The question upon which the whole 
future peace and policy of the world depends is this : 

Is the present war a struggle for a just and secure 
peace or only for a new balance of power? If it be only a 
struggle for a new balance of power, who will guarantee, io 
who can guarantee, the stable equilibrium of the new 
arrangement ? 

Only a tranquil Europe can be a stable Europe. There 
must be not only a balance of power, but a community 
of power; not organized rivalries, but an organized 15 
common peace. 



The equality of nations upon which peace must be 
founded, if it is to last, must be an equality of rights; 
the guarantees exchanged must neither recognize nor 

135 



136 WOODROW WILSON 

imply a difference between big nations and small, be- 
tween those that are powerful and those that are weak. 

Right must be based upon the common strength, not 
upon the individual strength, of the nations upon whose 
5 concert peace will depend. 

Equality of territory or of resources there, of course, 
cannot be; nor any other sort of equality not gained in 
the ordinary peaceful and legitimate development of the 
peoples themselves. But no one asks or expects anything 

i o more than an equality of rights. Mankind is looking 
now for freedom of life, not for equipoises of power. 

And there is a deeper thing involved than even equality 
of rights among organized nations. No peace can last, 
or ought to last, which does not recognize and accept the 

1 5 principle that Governments derive all their just powers 
from the consent of the governed, and that no right 
anywhere exists to hand people about from sovereignty 
to sovereignty as if they were property. 

I take it for granted, for instance, if I may venture 

2 o upon a single example, that statesmen everywhere are 
agreed that there should be a united, independent, and 
autonomous Poland, and that henceforth inviolable 
security of life, of worship, and of industrial and social 
development should be guaranteed to all peoples who have 

25 lived hitherto under the power of Governments devoted 
to a faith and purpose hostile to their own. 

I speak of this, not because of any desire to exalt an 
abstract political principle which has always been held 
very dear by those who have sought to build up liberty 

30 in America, but for the same reason that I have spoken 
of the other conditions of peace which seem to me clearly 
indispensable — because I wish frankly to uncover realities. 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE 137 

Any peace which does not recognize and accept this 
principle will inevitably be upset. It will not rest upon 
the affections or the convictions of mankind. The ferment 
of spirit of whole populations will fight subtly and con- 
stantly against it, and all the world will sympathize. 5 
The world can be at peace only if its life is stable, and 
there can be no stability where the will is in rebellion, 
where there is not tranquillity of spirit and a sense of jus- 
tice, of freedom, and of right. 

So far as practicable, moreover, every great people 10 
now struggling toward a full development of its resources 
and of its powers should be assured a direct outlet to the 
great highways of the sea. Where this cannot be done 
by the cession of territory, it can no doubt be done by the 
neutralization of direct rights of way under the general 15 
guarantee which will assure the peace itself. With a right 
comity of arrangement no nation need be shut away from 
free access to the open paths of the world's commerce. 

And the paths of the sea must alike in law and in fact 
be free. The freedom of the seas° is the sine qua non of 20 
peace, equality, and cooperation. 

Xo doubt a somewhat radical reconsideration of many 
of the rules of international practice hitherto sought to 
be established may be necessary in order to make the seas 
indeed free and common in practically all circumstances 25 
for the use of mankind, but the motive for such changes is 
convincing and compelling. There can be no trust or 
intimacy between the peoples of the world without 
them. 

The free, constant, unthreatened intercourse of nations 30 
is an essential part of the process of peace and of develop- 
ment. It need not be difficult to define or to secure the 



138 WOODROW WILSON 

freedom of the seas if the Governments of the world 
sincerely desire to come to an agreement concerning it. 

It is a problem closely connected with the limitation of 
naval armaments and the cooperation of the navies of 
5 the world in keeping the seas at once free and safe. And 
the question of limiting naval armaments opens the wider 
and perhaps more difficult question of the limitation of 
armies and of all programs of military preparation. 
Difficult and delicate as these questions are, they must 

iobe faced with the utmost candor and decided in a spirit of 
real accommodation if peace is to come with healing in its 
wings and come to stay. Peace cannot be had without 
concession and sacrifice. There can be no sense of safety 
and equality among the nations if great preponderating 

1 5 armies are henceforth to continue here and there to be 
built up and maintained. 

The statesmen of the world must plan for peace, and 
nations must adjust and accommodate their policy to it 
as they have planned for war and made ready for pitiless 

20 contest and rivalry. The question of armaments, whether 
on land or sea, is the most immediately and intensely 
practical question connected with the future fortunes of 
nations and of mankind. 

I have spoken upon these great matters without reserve 

25 and with the utmost explicitness because it has seemed 
to me to be necessary if the world's yearning desire for 
peace was anywhere to find free voice and utterance. 
Perhaps I am the only person in high authority among 
all the peoples of the world who is at liberty to speak and 

so hold nothing back. 

I am speaking as an individual, and yet I am speaking 
also, of course, as the responsible head of a great Govern- 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE 139 

ment, and I feel confident that I have said what the people 
of the United States would wish me to say. May I not 
add that I hope and believe that I am in effect speaking 
for liberals and friends of humanity in every nation and 
of every program of liberty ? s 

I would fain believe that I am speaking for the silent 
mass of mankind everywhere who have as yet had no 
place or opportunity to speak their real hearts out con- 
cerning the death and ruin they see to have come already 
upon the persons and the homes they hold most dear. 10 

And in holding out the expectation that the people and 
Government of the United States will join the other 
civilized nations of the world in guaranteeing the perma- 
nence of peace upon such terms as I have named, I speak 
with the greater boldness and confidence because it is 15 
clear to every man who can think that there is in this 
promise no breach in either our traditions or our policy as 
a nation, but a fulfilment, rather, of all that we have pro- 
fessed or striven for. 

I am proposing, as it were, that the nations should 20 
with one accord adopt the doctrine of President Monroe 
as the doctrine of the world ; that no nation should seek 
to extend its policy over any other nation or people, but 
that every people shall be left free to determine its own 
policy, its own way of development, unhindered, un- 25 
threatened, unafraid, the little along with the great and 
powerful. 

I am proposing that all nations henceforth avoid 
entangling alliances which would draw them into com- 
petitions of power, catch them in a net of intrigue and 30 
-elfish rivalry," and disturb their own affairs with influences 
intruded from without. There is no entangling alliance 



140 WOODROW WILSON 

in a concert of power. When all unite to act in the 
same sense and with the same purpose, all act in the 
common interest and are free to live their own lives under 
a common protection. 
5 I am proposing government by the consent of the 
governed ; that freedom of the seas which in international 
conference after conference representatives of the United 
States have urged with the eloquence of those who are 
the convinced disciples of liberty; and that moderation 

10 of armaments which makes of armies and navies a power 
for order merely, not an instrument of aggression or of 
selfish violence. 

These are American principles, American policies. 
We can stand for no others. And they are also the 

1 5 principles and policies of forward-looking men and 
women everywhere, of every modern nation, of every 
enlightened community. They are the principles of 
mankind, and must prevail. 



WOODROW WILSON 

19. BREAKING WITH GERMANY 

Delivered before Congress February 3, 1917, on 
the Occasion of Breaking Diplomatic Relations 
with Germany 

The Imperial German Government, on the 31st of 
January, announced to this Government and to the 
Governments of the other neutral nations that on and 
after the first day of February, the present month, it 
would adopt a policy with regard to the use of submarines 5 
against all shipping seeking to pass through certain desig- 
nated areas of the high seas to which it is clearly my duty 
to call your attention. 

Let me remind the Congress that on the 18th of April 
last, in view of the sinking on the 24th of March of the 10 
cross-Channel passenger-steamer Sussex by a German 
submarine, without summons or warning, and the conse- 
quent loss of the lives of several citizens of the United 
States who were passengers aboard her, this Government 
addressed a note to the Imperial German Government 15 
in which it made the following declaration : 

If it is still the purpose of the Imperial German Govern- 
ment to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate warfare 
against vessels" of commerce by the use of submarines 
without regard to what the Government of the United 20 

141 



142 WOODROW WILSON 

States must consider the sacred and indisputable rules 
of international law and the universally recognized dic- 
tates of humanity, the Government of the United States 
is at last forced to the conclusion that there is but one 
5 course it can pursue. Unless the German Government 
should now immediately declare and effect an abandon- 
ment of its present methods of submarine warfare against 
passenger and freight-carrying vessels the Government 
of the United States can have no choice but to sever 

10 diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether. 
In reply to this declaration the German Government 
gave this Government the following assurances : 

The German Government is prepared to do its utmost 
to confine the operations of war for the rest of its duration 

1 5 to the righting forces of the belligerents, thereby insuring 
the freedom of the seas, a principle upon which the Ger- 
man Government believes itself, now as before, to be in 
agreement with the Government of the United States. 
The German Government, guided by this idea, notifies 

2othe Government of the United States that the German 
naval forces have received the following orders : 

In accordance with the general principles of visit and 
search and destruction of merchant vessels recognized 
by international law, such vessels, both within and with- 

25 out the area declared as naval war zone, shall not be sunk 
without warning and without saving human lives, unless 
these ships attempt to escape or offer resistance. 

But neutrals cannot expect that Germany, forced to 
fight for her existence, shall, for the sake of neutral inter- 

30 est, restrict the use of an effective weapon if her enemy 
is permitted to continue to apply at will methods of war- 
fare violating the rules of international law. Such a 



BREAKING WITH GERMANY 143 

demand would be incompatible with the character of 
neutrality, and the German Government is convinced 
that the Government of the United States does not think 
of making such a demand, knowing that the Government 
of the United States has repeatedly declared that it is 5 
determined to restore the principle of the freedom of the 
seas from whatever charter it has been violated. 

To this the Government of the United States replied 
on the 8th of May, accepting, of course, the assurances 
given, but adding : io 

The Government of the United States feels it necessary 
to state that it takes it for granted that the Imperial 
German Government does not intend to imply that the 
maintenance of its newly announced policy is in any way 
contingent upon the course or result of diplomatic nego- 15 
tiations between the Government of the United States 
and any other belligerent Government, notwithstanding 
the fact that certain passages in the Imperial Govern- 
ment's note of the 4th instant might appear to be suscep- 
tible to that construction. In order, however, to avoid 10 
any possible misunderstanding, the Government of the 
United States notifies the Imperial Government that it 
cannot for a moment entertain, much less discuss, a sug- 
gestion that respect by German naval authorities for the 
rights of citizens of the United States upon the high seas 25 
should in any way or in the slightest degree be made 
contingent upon the conduct of any other Government 
affecting the rights of neutrals and noncombatants. Re- 
sponsibility in such matters is single, not joint ; absolute, 
not relative. 30 

To this note of the 8th of May the Imperial German 
Government made no reply. 



144 WOODROW WILSON 

On the 31st of January, the Wednesday of the present 
week, the German Ambassador handed to the Secretary 
of State, along with a formal note, a memorandum which 
contains the following statement : 

5 The Imperial Government, therefore, does not doubt 
that the Government of the United States will understand 
the situation thus forced upon Germany by the Entente 
Allies' brutal methods of war and by their determination 
to destroy the Central Powers, and that the Government 

i oof the United States will further realize that the now 
openly disclosed intentions of the Entente Allies give 
back to Germany the freedom of action which she reserved 
in her note addressed to the Government of the United 
States on May 4, 1916. 

is Under these circumstances Germany will meet the ille- 
gal measures of her enemies by forcibly preventing after 
February 1, 1917, in a zone around Great Britain, France, 
Italy, and in the eastern Mediterranean all navigation, 
that of neutrals included, from and to France, etc. All 

20 ships met within the zone will be sunk. 

I think that you will agree with me that, in view of 
this declaration, which suddenly and without prior 
intimation of any kind deliberately withdraws the solemn 
assurance given in the Imperial Government's note 

2 5 of the 4th of May, 1916, this Government has no alter- 
native consistent with the dignity and honor of the 
United States but to take the course which, in its note 
of the 18th of April, 1916, it announced that it would 
take in the event that the German Government did not 

30 declare and effect an abandonment of the methods of 
submarine warfare which it was then employing and to 
which it now purposes again to resort. 



BREAKING WITH GERMANY 145 

■ I have, therefore, directed the Secretary of State 
to announce to his Excellency the German ambassa- 
dor that all diplomatic relations between the United 
States and the German Empire are severed, and that 
the American ambassador at Berlin will immediately 5 
be withdrawn, and, in accordance with this decision, 
to hand to his Excellenc}^ his passports. 

Notwithstanding this unexpected action of the Ger- 
man Government, this sudden and deeply deplorable 
renunciation of its assurances, given this Government 10 
at one of the most critical moments of tension in the 
relations of the two Governments, I refuse to believe 
that it is the intention of the German authorities to 
do in fact what they have warned us they will feel at 
liberty to do. I cannot bring myself to believe that 15 
they will indeed pay no regard to the ancient friendship 
between their people and our own or to the solemn obliga- 
tions which have been exchanged between them and 
destroy American ships and take the lives of American 
citizens in the wilful prosecution of the ruthless naval 20 
program they have announced their intention to adopt. 

Only actual overt acts on their part can make me 
believe it even now. 

If this inveterate confidence on my part in the so- 
briety and prudent foresight of their purpose should 25 
unhappily prove unfounded, if American ships and 
American lives should, in fact, be sacrificed by their 
naval commanders in heedless contravention of the 
just and reasonable understandings of international 
law and the obvious dictates of humanity, I shall take 30 
the liberty of coming again before the Congress to ask 
that authority be given me to use any means that may 



146 WOODROW WILSON 

be necessary for the protection of our seamen and our 
people in the prosecution of their peaceful and legitimate 
errands on the high seas. I can do nothing less. I 
take it for granted that all neutral Governments will 

5 take the same course. 

I do not desire any hostile conflict with the Imperial 
German Government. We are the sincere friends of 
the German people and earnestly desire to remain at 
peace with the Government which speaks for them. 

ioWe shall not believe that they are hostile to us until 
we are obliged to believe it; and we purpose nothing 
more than the reasonable defense of the undoubted 
rights of our people. We wish to serve no selfish ends. 
We seek merely to stand true alike in thought and in 

1 5 action to the immemorial principles of our people which 
I sought to express in my address to the Senate only two 
weeks ago — seek merely to vindicate our right to liberty 
and justice and an unmolested life. These are bases of 
peace, not war. God grant we may not be challenged 

20 to defend them by acts of wilful injustice on the part of 
the Government of Germany. 



WOODROW WILSON 
20. SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

Delivered at the Inaugural Exercises Held on 
March 5, 1917 

My Fellow Citizens : 

The four years which have elapsed since last I stood 
in this place have been crowded with counsel and action 
of the most vital interest and consequence. Perhaps 
no equal period in our history has been so fruitful of 
important reforms in our economic and industrial life 5 
or so full of significant changes in the spirit and purpose 
of our political action. We have sought very thought- 
fully to set our house in order, correct the grosser errors 
and abuses of our industrial life, liberate and quicken 
the processes of our national genius and energy, and lift 10 
our politics to a broader view of the people's essential 
interests. It is a record of singular variety and singular 
distinction. But I shall not attempt to review it. It 
speaks for itself and will be of increasing influence as 
the years go by. This is not the time for retrospect. It 15 
is time, rather, to speak our thoughts and purposes con- 
cerning the present and the immediate future. 

Although we have centered counsel and action with 
such unusual concentration and success upon the great 
problems of domestic legislation to which we addressed 20 

147 



148 WOODROW WILSON 

ourselves four years ago, other matters have more and 
more forced themselves upon our attention, matters lying 
outside our own life as a nation and over which we had 
no control, but which, despite our wish to keep free of 
5 them, have drawn us more and more irresistibly into 
their own current and influence. 

It has been impossible to avoid them. They have 
affected the life of the whole world. They have shaken 
men everywhere with a passion and an apprehension 

iothey never knew before. It has been hard to preserve 
calm counsel while the thought of our own people swayed 
this way and that under their influence. We are a com- 
posite and cosmopolitan people. We are of the blood 
of all the nations that are at war. The currents of our 

15 thoughts as well as the currents of our trade run quick 
at all seasons back and forth between us and them. The 
war inevitably set its mark from the first alike upon our 
minds, our industries, our commerce, our politics, and our 
social action. To be indifferent to it or independent of 

20 it was out of the question. 

And yet all the while we have been conscious that 
we were not part of it. In that consciousness, despite 
many divisions, we have drawn closer together. We 
have been deeply wronged upon the seas,° but we have 

25 not wished to wrong or injure in return; have retained 
throughout the consciousness of standing in some sort 
apart, intent upon an interest that transcended the 
immediate issues of the war itself. As some of the in- 
juries done us have become intolerable we have still been 

30 clear that we wished nothing for ourselves that we were 
not ready to demand for all mankind — fair dealing, justice, 
the freedom to live and be at ease against organized wrong. 



SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 149 

It is in this spirit and with this thought that we have 
grown more and more aware, more and more certain 
that the part we wished to play was the part of those 
who mean to vindicate and fortify peace. We have 
been obliged to arm ourselves to make good our claim 5 
to a certain minimum of right and of freedom of action. 
We stand firm in armed neutrality, since it seems that 
in no other way can we demonstrate what it is we insist 
upon and cannot forego. We may even be drawn on, 
by circumstances, not by our own purpose and desire, 10 
to a more active assertion of our rights as we see them and 
a more immediate association with the great struggle 
itself. But nothing will alter our thought or our purpose. 
They are too clear to be obscured. They are too deeply 
rooted in the principles of our national life to be altered. 15 
We desire neither conquest nor advantage. We wish 
nothing that can be had only at the cost of another people. 
We have always professed unselfish purpose and we covet 
the opportunity to prove that our professions are sincere. 

There are many things still to do at home to clarify 20 
our own politics and give new vitality to the industrial 
processes of our own life, and we shall do them as time 
and opportunity serve ; but we realize that the greatest 
things that remain to be done must be done with the 
whole world for stage and in cooperation with the wide 25 
and universal forces of mankind, and we are making our 
spirits ready for those things. They will follow in the 
immediate wake of the war itself and will set civilization 
up again. We are provincials no longer. The tragical 
events of the thirty months of vital turmoil through 30 
which we have just passed have made us citizens of the 
world. There can be no turning back. Our own for- 



150 WOODROW WILSON 

tunes as a nation are involved, whether we would have it 
so or not. 

And yet we are not the less Americans on that account. 
We shall be the more American if we but remain true 
5 to the principles in which we have been bred. They are 
not the principles of a province or of a single continent. 
We have known and boasted all along that they were the 
principles of a liberated mankind. These, therefore, are 
the things we shall stand for, whether in war or in peace : 

10 That all nations are equally interested in the peace 
of the world and in the political stability of free peoples, 
and equally responsible for their maintenance ; i 

That the essential principle of peace is the actual 
equality of nations in all matters of right or privilege ; 

15 That peace cannot securely or justly rest upon an 
armed balance of power ; 

That Governments derive all their just powers from 
the consent of the governed and that no other powers 
should be supported by the common thought, purpose, 

20 or power of the family of nations ; 

That the seas should be equally free and safe for the 
use of all peoples, under rules set up by common agree- 
ment and consent, and that, so far as practicable, they 
should be accessible to all upon equal terms ; 

25 That national armaments should be limited to the 
necessities of national order and domestic safety ; 

That the community of interest and of power upon 
which peace must henceforth depend imposes upon 
each nation the duty of seeing to it that all influences 

30 proceeding from its own citizens meant to encourage or 
assist revolution in other states should be sternly and 
effectually suppressed and prevented. 



SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 151 

I need not argue these principles to you, my fellow 
countrymen; they are your own, part and parcel of 
your own thinking and your own motive in affairs. They 
spring up native amongst us. Upon this as a platform 
of purpose and of action we can stand together. 5 

And it is imperative that we should stand together. 
We are being forged into a new unity amidst the fires 
that now blaze throughout the world. In their ardent 
heat we shall, in God's providence, let us hope, be purged 
of faction and division, purified of the errant humors of to 
party and of private interest, and shall stand forth in 
the days to come with a new dignity of national pride 
and spirit. Let each man see to it that the dedication 
is in his own heart, the high purpose of the nation in his 
own mind, ruler of his own will and desire. 15 

I stand here and have taken the high and solemn 
oath to which you have been audience because the people 
of the United States have chosen me for this august 
delegation of power and have by their gracious judgment 
named me their leader in affairs. I know now what the 20 
task means. I realize to the full the responsibility which 
it involves. I pray God I may be given the wisdom and 
the prudence to do my duty in the true spirit of this great 
people. I am their servant and can succeed only as they 
sustain and guide me ° by their confidence and their 25 
counsel. The thing I shall count upon, the thing with- 
out which neither counsel nor action will avail, is the 
unity of America — an America united in feeling, in 
purpose, and in its vision of duty, of opportunity, and of 
service. We are to beware of all men who w r ould turn 30 
the tasks and the necessities of the nation to their own 
private profit or use them for the building up of private 



152 WOODROW WILSON 

power ; beware that no faction or disloyal intrigue break 
the harmony or embarrass the spirit of our people; be- 
ware that our Government be kept pure and incorrupt 
in all its parts. United alike in the conception of our 
5 duty and in the high resolve to perform it in the face of 
all men, let us dedicate ourselves ° to the great task to 
which we must now set our hand. For myself I beg your 
tolerance, your countenance, and your united aid. The 
shadows that now lie dark upon our path will soon be 
10 dispelled and we shall walk with the light all about us 
if we be but true to ourselves — to ourselves as we have 
wished to be known in the counsels of the world and in the 
thought of all those who love liberty and justice and the 
right exalted. 



WOODROW WILSON 

21. GERMANY MAKES WAR ON THE UNITED 
STATES 

Address Delivered before Congress, April 2, 1917 

I have called the Congress into extraordinary ses- 
sion because there are serious, very serious, choices of 
policy to be made, and made immediately, which it 
was neither right nor constitutionally permissible that 
I should assume the responsibility of making. 5 

On the 3d of February last I officially laid before 
you ° the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial 
German Government that on and after the first day of 
February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints 
of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink io 
every vessel that sought to approach either the ports 
of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of 
Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of 
Germany within the Mediterranean. That had seemed 
to be the object of the German submarine warfare earlier 15 
in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Gov- 
ernment had somewhat restrained the commanders of 
its undersea craft in conformity with its promise then 
given to us ° that passenger-boats should not be sunk, 
and that due warning would be given to all other vessels 20 
which its submarines might seek to destroy where no 

153 



154 WOOD ROW WILSON 

« 
resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care taken 
that their crews were given at least a fair chance to save 
their lives in their open boats. 

The precautions taken were meager and haphazard 
5 enough, as was proved in distressing instance after instance 
in the .progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a 
certain degree of restraint was observed. 

The new policy has swept every restriction aside. 
Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, 

io their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been 
ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning, and without 
thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels 
of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. 
Even hospital-ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely 

1 5 bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the 
latter were provided with safe conduct through the pro- 
scribed areas by the German Government itself and were 
distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have 
been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of 

2 o principle. 

I was for a little while unable to believe that such 
things would, in fact, be done by any Government that 
had hitherto subscribed to the humane practices of civil- 
ized nations. International law had its origin in the 

2 5 attempt to set up some law which would be respected 
and observed upon the seas, where no nation had right 
of dominion, and where lay the free highways of the 
world. By painful stage after stage has that law been 
built up with meager enough results, indeed, after all 

3 o was accomplished that could be accomplished, but al- 
ways with a clear view at least of what the heart and 
conscience of mankind demanded. 



GERMANY MAKES WAR 155 

This minimum of right the German Government has 
swept aside under the plea of retaliation and necessity, 
and because it had no weapons which it could use at sea 
except these, which it is impossible to employ as it is em- 
ploying them without throwing to the winds all scruples 5 
of humanity or of respect for the understandings that were 
supposed to underlie the intercourse of the world. 

I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, 
immense and serious as that is, but only of the wanton 
and wholesale destruction of the lives of noncombatants, 10 
men, womel, and children engaged in pursuits which 
have always, even in the darkest periods of modern his- 
tory, been deemed innocent and legitimate. 

Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and 
innocent people cannot be. is 

The present German warfare against commerce is 
a warfare against mankind. It is a war against all 
nations. American ships ° have been sunk, American 
lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply 
to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral 20 
and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed 
in the waters in the same way. There has been no dis- 
crimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each 
nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The 
choice we make for ourselves must be made with a mod- 25 
eration of counsel and a temperateness of judgment 
befitting our character and our motives as a Nation. 
We must put excited feeling away. 

Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious asser- 
tion of the physical might of the nation, but only the 30 
vindication- of right, of human right, of which we are 
only a single champion. 



156 WOODROW WILSON 

When I addressed the Congress on the 26th of February 
last I thought that it would suffice to assert our neutral 
rights with arms, our right to use the seas against unlawful 
interference, our right to keep our people safe against 
5 unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, it now appears, 
is impracticable. Because submarines are in effect 
outlaws when used as the German submarines have been 
used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to defend 
ships against their attacks as the law of nations has 

i o assumed that merchantmen would defend themselves 
against privateers or cruisers, visible craft giving chase 
upon the open sea. 

It is common prudence in such circumstances, grim 
necessity, indeed, to endeavor to destroy them before 

is they have shown their own intention. They must be 
dealt with upon sight, if dealt with at all. 

The German Government denies the right of neutrals 
to use arms at all within the areas of the sea which it 
has proscribed, even in the defense of rights which no 

20 modern publicist has ever before questioned their right 
to defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed 
guards which we have placed on our merchant-ships will 
be treated as beyond the pale of law and subject* to be 
dealt with as pirates would be. 

2 5 Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best; in 
such circumstances and in the face of such pretensions 
it is worse than ineffectual; it is likely to produce what 
it was meant to prevent ; it is practically certain to draw 
us into the war without either the rights or the effective- 

3oness of belligerents. 

There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable 
of making: we will not choose the path of submission 



GERMANY MAKES WAR 157 

and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our 
people to be ignored or violated. The wrongs against 
which we now array ourselves are not common wrongs; 
they reach out to the very roots of human life. 

With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical 5 
character of the step I am taking and of the grave respon- 
sibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience 
to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the 
Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial Ger- 
man Government to be in fact nothing less than war 10 
against the Government and people of the United States. 
That it formally accept the status of belligerent which 
has thus been thrust upon it and that it take immediate 
steps not only to put the country in a more thorough 
state of defense, but also to exert all its power and employ is 
all its resources to bring the Government of the German 
Empire to terms and end the war. 

What this will involve is clear. It will involve the 
utmost practicable cooperation in counsel and action 
with the Governments now at war with Germany, and 20 
as incident to that the extension to those Governments 
of the most liberal financial credits in order that our , 
resources may so far as possible be added to theirs. 

It will involve the organization and mobilization of 
all the material resources of the country to supply the 25 
materials of war and serve the incidental needs of the 
nation in the most abundant and yet the most economical 
and efficient way possible. 

It will involve the immediate full equipment of the 
navy in all respects, but particularly in supplying it 30 
with the best means of dealing with the enemy's sub- 
marines. 



158 WOODROW WILSON 

It will involve the immediate addition to the armed 
forces of the United States already provided for by 
law in case of war at least 500,000 men, who should, 
in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle of universal 
sliability to service, and also the authorization of subse- 
quent additional increments of equal force so soon as 
they may be needed and can be handled in training. 

It will involve also, of course, the granting of ade- 
quate credits to the Government, sustained, I hope, 

ioso far as they can equitably be sustained by the pres- 
ent generation, by well-conceived taxation. I say sus- 
tained so far as may be equitable by taxation because 
it seems to me that it would be most unwise to base the 
credits which will now be necessary entirely on money 

15 borrowed. 

It is our duty, I most respectfully urge, to protect 
our people so far as we may against the very serious 
hardships and evils which would be likely to arise out 
of the inflation which would be produced by vast loans. 

20 In carrying out the measures by which these things 
are to be accomplished we should keep constantly in 
mind the wisdom of interfering as little as possible in 
our own preparation and in the equipment of our own 
military forces with the duty — for it will be a very 

25 practical duty — of supplying the nations already at 
war with Germany with the materials which they can 
obtain only from us or by our assistance. They are in 
the field and we should help them in every way to -be 
effective there. 

30 I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the 
several executive departments of the Government, for 
the consideration of your committees measures for the 



GERMANY MAKES WAR 159 

accomplishment of the several objects I have mentioned. 
I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them 
as having been framed after very careful thought by the 
branch of the Government upon which the responsibility 
of conducting the war and safeguarding the nation will 5 
most directly fall. 

While we do these things, these deeply momentous 
things, let us be very clear and make very clear to all 
the world what our motives and our objects are. My 
own thought has not been driven from its habitual and 10 
normal course by the unhappy events of the last two 
months, and I do not believe that the thought of the 
nation has been altered or clouded by them. 

I have exactly the same thing in mind now that I 
had in mind when I addressed the Senate on the 22d 15 
of January last ; the same that I had in mind when I 
addressed the Congress on the 3d of February and on 
the 26th of February. 

Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the princi- 
ples of peace and of justice in the life of the world as 20 
against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst 
the really free and self-governed peoples of the world 
such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth 
insure the observance of those principles. 

Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where 25 
the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of 
its peoples, and the menace to that peace and freedom 
lies in the existence of autocratic Governments backed 
by organized force which is controlled wholly by their 
will, not by the will of their people. We have seen the 30 
last of neutrality in such circumstances. 

We are at the beginning of an age in which it will 



160 WOODROW WILSON 

be insisted that the same standards of conduct and of 
responsibility for wrong done shall be observed among 
nations and their Governments that are observed among 
the individual citizens of civilized states. 
5 We have no quarrel with the German people. We 
have no feeling toward them but one of sympathy and 
friendship. It was not upon their impulse that their 
Government acted in entering this war. It was not 
with their previous knowledge or approval. 

10 It was a war determined upon as wars used to be deter- 
mined upon in the old, unhappy days when peoples 
were nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were 
provoked and waged in the interest of dynasties or little 
groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to use 

15 their fellow-men as pawns and tools. 

Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor states 
with spies or set the course of intrigue to bring about 
some critical posture of affairs ° which will give them 
an opportunity to strike and make conquest. Such 

20 designs can be successfully worked only under cover 
and where no one has the right to ask questions. 

Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggres- 
sion, carried, it may be, from generation to generation, 
can be worked out and kept from the light only within 

25 the privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded 
confidences of a narrow and privileged class. They 
are happily impossible where public opinion commands 
and insists upon full information concerning all the na- 
tion's affairs. 

30 A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained 
except by a partnership of democratic nations. No 
autocratic Government could be trusted to keep faith 



GERMANY MAKES WAR 161 

within it or observe its covenants. It must be a league 
of honor, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would 
eat its vitals away, the plottings of inner circles who 
could plan what they would and render account to no 
one would be a corruption seated at its very heart. Only s 
free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady 
to a common end and prefer the interests of mankind 
to any narrow interest of their own. 

Does not every American feel that assurance has 
been added to our hope for the future peace of the world 10 
by the wonderful and heartening things that have been 
happening within the last few weeks in Russia ? 

Russia was known by those who know it best to have 
been always in fact democratic at heart, in all the vital 
habits of her thought, in all the intimate relationships 15 
of her people that spoke their natural instinct, their 
habitual attitude toward life. 

Autocracy that crowned the summit of her political 
structure, long as it had stood and terrible as was the 
reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in origin, 20 
in character or purpose; and now it has been shaken 
off and the great, generous Russian people have been 
added, in all their native majesty and might, to the 
forces that are fighting for freedom in the world, for 
justice and for peace. Here is a fit partner for a League 25 
of Honor. 

One of the things that have served to convince us 
that the Prussian autocracy was not and could never 
be our friend is that from the very outset of the pres- 
ent war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and 30 
even our offices of Government with spies and set criminal 
intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity 



162 WOODROW WILSON 

of council, our peace within and without, our industries 
and our commerce. 

Indeed, it is now evident that its spies were here even 
before the war began, and it is, unhappily, not a matter 
5 of conjecture, but a fact proved in our courts of justice, 
that the intrigues which have more than once come 
perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating 
the industries of the country have been carried on at the 
instigation, with the support, and even under the personal 

io direction, of official agents of the Imperial German Gov- 
ernment accredited to the Government of the United 
States. 

Even in checking these things and trying to extir- 
pate them we have sought to put the most generous 

15 interpretation possible upon them because we knew 
that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or pur- 
pose of the German people toward us (who were, no 
doubt, as ignorant of them as we ourselves were), but 
only in the selfish designs of a Government that did 

2owhat it pleased and told its people nothing. But they 
have played their part in serving to convince us at last 
that that Government entertains no real friendship for 
us and means to act against our peace and security at 
its convenience. That it means to stir up enemies 

2 5 against us at our very doors the intercepted note to 
the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent 
evidence. 

We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose 
because we know that in such a Government, follow- 

3oing such methods, we can never have a friend; and that 
in the presence of its organized power, always lying in 
wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there 



GERMANY MAKES WAR 163 

can be no assured security for the democratic Govern- 
ments of the world. 

We are now about to accept the gage of battle with 
this natural foe to liberty, and shall, if necessary, spend 
the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its 5 
pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we 
see the facts with no veil of false pretense about them, 
to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for 
the liberation of its peoples, the German people included ; 
for the rights of nations great and small and the privi- 10 
lege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of 
obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. 
Its peace must be planted upon the trusted foundations 
of political liberty. 

We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no con- 15 
quest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for our- 
selves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we 
shall freely make. We are but one of the champions 
of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when 
those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the 20 
freedom of nations can make them. 

Just because we fight without rancor and without 
selfish objects, seeking nothing for ourselves but what 
we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, 
I feel confident, conduct our operations as belligerents 25 
without passion and ourselves observe with proud punc- 
tilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to 
be fighting for. 

I have said nothing of the Governments allied with 
the Imperial Government of Germany because they 30 
have not made war upon us or challenged us to defend 
our right and our honor. 



164 WOODROW WILSON 

The Austro-Hungarian Government has indeed avowed 
its unqualified indorsement and acceptance of the reck- 
less and lawless submarine warfare adopted now with- 
out disguise by the Imperial German Government, and 
5 it has therefore not been possible for this Government 
to receive Count Tarnowski, the ambassador recently 
accredited to this Government by the Imperial and Royal 
Government of Austro-Hungary ; but that Government 
has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of 

iothe United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for 
the present at least, of postponing a discussion of our 
relations with the authorities at Vienna. 

We enter this war only where we are clearly forced 
into it because there are no other means of defending 

1 5 our rights. 

It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves 
as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness be- 
cause we act without animus, not in enmity toward a 
people or with the desire to bring any injury or dis- 

20 advantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to 
an irresponsible Government which has thrown aside 
all considerations of humanity and of right and is running 
amuck. 

We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the 

25 German people, and shall desire nothing so much as 
the early reestablishment of intimate relations of mutual 
advantage between us, however hard it may be for them, 
for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our 
hearts. We have borne with their present Government 

30 through all these bitter months because of that friendship, 
— exercising a patience and forbearance which would 
otherwise have been impossible. 



GERMANY MAKES WAR 165 

We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove 
that friendship in our daily attitude and actions towards 
the millions of men and women of German birth and native 
sympathy who live amongst us and share our life, and we 
shall be proud to prove it toward all who are, in fact, 5 
loyal to their neighbors and to the Government in the 
hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal 
Americans as if they had never known any other fealty 
or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us 
in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a 10 
different mind and purpose. If there should be disloyalty 
it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression ; 
but, if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here and 
there and without countenance except from a lawless 
and malignant few. 15 

It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen 
of the Congress, which I have performed in thus ad- 
dressing you. There are, it may be, many months of 
fien T trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing 
to lead this great, peaceful people into war, into the 20 
most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself 
seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more 
precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things 
which we have always carried nearest our hearts — for 
democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority 25 
to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights 
and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion 
of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring 
peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself 
at last free. 30 

To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our for- 
tunes, everything that we are and everything that we 



166 WOODROW WILSON 

have, with the pride of those who know that the day 
has come when America is privileged to spend her blood 
and her might for the principles that gave her birth and 
happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God 
5 helping her, she can do no other. 



WOODROW WILSON 

22. WAYS TO SERVE THE NATION DURING 
WAR 

A Proclamation to the American People, 
April 15, 1917 

My Fellow Countrymen: The entrance of our own 
beloved country into the grim and terrible war for de- 
mocracy and human rights which has shaken the world 
creates so many problems of national life and action 
which call for immediate consideration and settlement that 5 
I hope you will permit me to address to you a few words 
of earnest counsel and appeal with regard to them. 

We are rapidly putting our navy upon an efficient war 
footing and are about to create and equip a great army, 
but these are the simplest parts of the great task to which 10 
we have addressed ourselves. There is not a single selfish 
element, so far as I can see, in the cause we are fighting 
for. We are fighting for what we believe and wish to 
be the rights of mankind and for the future peace and 
security of the world. To do this great thing worthily 15 
and successfully we must devote ourselves to the service 
without regard to profit or material advantage and with 
an energy and intelligence that will rise to the level of the 
enterprise itself. We must realize to the full how great 
the task is and how many things and how many kinds and 20 

167 



168 WOOD ROW WILSON 

elements of capacity and service and self-sacrifice it in- 
volves. 

These, then, are the things we must do, and do well, 
besides fighting, — the things without which mere fighting 
5 would be fruitless : 

We must supply abundant food for ourselves and for 
our armies and our seamen not only, but also for a large 
part of the nations with whom we have now made com- 
mon cause, in whose support and by whose sides we shall 

iobe fighting: 

We must supply ships by the hundreds out of our ship- 
yards to carry to the other side of the sea, submarines or 
no submarines, what will every day be needed there, and 
abundant materials out of our fields and our mines and our 

15 factories with which not only to clothe and equip our own 
forces on land and sea but also to clothe and support our 
people for whom the gallant fellows under arms can no 
longer work, to help clothe and equip the armies with 
which we are cooperating in Europe, and to keep the 

20 looms and manufactories there in raw material; coal to 
keep the fires going in ships at sea and in the furnaces of 
hundreds of factories across the sea ; steel out of which to 
make arms and ammunition both here and there; rails 
for worn-out railways back of the fighting fronts; loco- 

25 motives and rolling stock to take the place of those every 
day going to pieces; mules, horses, cattle for labor and 
for military service; everything with which the people 
of England and France and Italy and Russia have usually 
supplied themselves but cannot now afford the men, the 

30 materials, or the machinery to make. 

It is evident to every thinking man that our industries, 
on the farms, in the shipyards, in the mines, in the fac- 



WAYS TO SERVE THE NATION 169 

tories must be made more prolific and more efficient than 
ever and that they must be more economically managed 
and better adapted to the particular requirements of our 
task than they have been ; and what I want to say is that 
the men and the women who devote their thought and 5 
their energy to these things will be serving the country 
and conducting the fight for peace and freedom just as 
truly and just as effectively as the men on the battlefield 
or in -the trenches. The industrial forces of the country, 
men and women alike, will be a great national, a great 10 
international Service Army, — a notable and honored 
host engaged in the service of the nation and the world, 
the efficient friends and saviors of freemen everywhere. 
Thousands, nay, hundreds of thousands, of men otherwise 
liable to military service will of right and of necessity be 15 
excused from that service and assigned to the funda- 
mental, sustaining work of the fields and factories and 
mines, and they will be as much part of the great patriotic 
forces of the nation as the men under fire. 

I take the liberty, therefore, of addressing this word 20 
to the farmers of the country and to all who work on the 
farms; the supreme need of our own nation and of the 
nations with which we are cooperating is an abundance 
of supplies, and especially of food stuffs. The importance 
of an adequate food supply, especially for the present year, 25 
is superlative. Without abundant food, alike for the 
armies and peoples now at war, the whole great enterprise 
upon which we have embarked will break down and fail. 
The world's food reserves are low. Not only during the 
present emergency but for some time after peace shall 30 
have come both our own people and a large proportion of 
the people of Europe must rely upon the harvests in 



170 WOODROW WILSON 

America. Upon the farmers of this country, therefore, 
in large measure, rests the fate of the war and the fate of 
the nations. May the nation not count upon them to 
omit no step that will increase the production of their 
5 land or that will bring about the most effectual cooper- 
ation in the sale and distribution of their products? 
The time is short. It is of the most imperative importance 
that everything possible be done and done immediately 
to make sure of large harvests. I call upon young men and 

ioold alike and upon the able-bodied boys of the land to 
accept and act upon this duty — to turn in hosts to the 
farms and make certain that no pains and no labor is 
lacking in this great matter. 

I particularly appeal to the farmers of the South to 

1 5 plant abundant food stuffs as well as cotton. They can 
show their patriotism in no better or more convincing 
way than by resisting the great temptation of the present 
price of cotton and helping, helping upon a great scale, to 
feed the nation and the peoples everywhere who are 

2Q fighting for their liberties and for our own. The variety 
of their crops will be the visible measure of their compre- 
hension of their national duty. 

The government of the United States and the govern- 
ments of the several States stand ready to cooperate. 

2 5 They will do everything possible to assist farmers in se- 
curing an adequate supply of seeds and adequate force 
of laborers when they are most needed, at harvest time, 
and the means of expediting shipments of fertilizers and 
farm machinery as well as of the crops themselves when 

30 harvested. The course of trade shall be as unhampered 
as it is possible to make it and there shall be no unwar- 
ranted manipulation of the nation's food supply by those 



WAYS TO SERVE THE NATION 171 

who handle it on its way to the consumer. This is our 
opportunity to demonstrate the efficiency of the great 
Democracy and we shall not fall short of it. 

This let me say to the middlemen of every sort, whether 
they are handling our food stuffs or our raw materials of 5 
manufacture or the products of our mills and factories; 
the eyes of the country will be especially upon you. This 
is your opportunity for signal service, efficient and disin- 
terested. The country expects you, as it expects all 
others, to forego unusual profits to organize and expedite 10 
shipments of supplies of every kind, but especially of food 
with an eye to the service you are rendering and' in the 
spirit of those who enlist in the ranks, for their people, not 
for themselves. I shall confidently expect you to deserve 
and win the confidence of the people of every sort and 15 
station. 

To the men w^ho run the railways of the country, whether 
they be managers or operative employees, let me say that 
the railways are the arteries of the nation's life and that 
upon them rests the immense responsibility of seeing to it 20 
that those arteries suffer no obstruction of any kind, no 
inefficiency or slackened power. To the merchant let me 
suggest the motto, " Small profits and quick service"; 
and to the shipbuilder the thought that the life of the war 
depends upon him. The food and the war supplies must 25 
be carried across the seas no matter how many ships are 
sent to the bottom. The places of those that go down 
must be supplied and supplied at once. To the miner let 
me say that he stands where the farmer does ; the work of 
the world waits on him. If he slackens or fails, armies 30 
and statesmen- are helpless. He also is enlisted in the 
great Service Army. The manufacturer does not need to 



172 WOODROW WILSON 

be told, I hope, that the nation looks to him to speed and 
perfect every process ; and I want only to remind his 
employees that their service is absolutely indispensable 
and is counted on by every man who loves the country 
5 and its liberties. 

Let me suggest, also, that everyone who creates or cul- 
tivates a garden helps, and helps greatly, to solve the 
problem of the feeding of nations ; and that every house- 
wife who practices strict economy puts herself in the ranks 

ioof those who serve the nation. This is the time for 
America to correct her unpardonable fault of wastefulness 
and extravagance. Let every man and every woman as- 
sume the duty of careful, provident use and expenditure 
as a public duty, as a dictate of patriotism which no one 

15 can now expect ever to be excused or forgiven for ignoring. 

In the hope that this statement of the needs of the 

nation and of the world in this hour of supreme crisis may 

stimulate those to whom it comes and remind all who need 

reminder of the solemn duties of a time such as the world 

20 has never seen before, I beg that all editors and publishers 
everywhere will give as prominent publication and as 
wide circulation as possible to this appeal. I venture to 
suggest, also, to all advertising agencies that they would 
perhaps render a very substantial and timely service to 

25 the country if they would give it widespread repetition. 
And I hope that clergymen will not think the theme of it 
an unworthy or inappropriate subject of comment and 
homily from their pulpits. 

The supreme test of the nation has come. We must 

30 all speak, act, and serve together. 



WOODROW WILSON 

23. MEMORIAL DAY ADDRESS 
May 30, 1917 

The program has conferred an unmerited dignity 
upon the remarks I am going to make by calling them 
an address, because I am not here to deliver an address ; 
I am here merely to show in my official capacity the 
sympathy of this great Government with the object of 5 
this occasion, and also to speak just a word of the senti- 
ment that is in my own heart. 

Any Memorial Day° of this sort is, of course, a day 
touched with sorrowful memory, and yet I for one do 
not see how we can have any thought of pity for the 10 
men whose memory we honor to-day. I do not pity 
them. I envy them, rather, because theirs is a great 
work for liberty accomplished and we are in the midst 
of a work unfinished, testing our strength where their 
strength already has been tested. There is a touch of 15 
sorrow, but there is a touch of reassurance also in a day 
like this, because we know how the men of America have 
responded to the call of the cause of liberty, and it fills 
our minds with a perfect assurance that that response 
will come again in equal measure, with equal majesty, and 20 
with a result which will hold the attention of all mankind. 

When you reflect upon it, these men who died to pre- 
serve the Union, died to preserve the instrument which 

173 



174 WOODROW WILSON 

we are now using to serve the world — a free nation 
espousing the cause of human liberty. In one sense the 
great struggle into which we have now entered is an 
American struggle, because it is in the sense of Amer- 
5ican honor and American rights, but it is something 
even greater than that; it is a world struggle. It is a 
struggle of men who love liberty everywhere, and in this 
cause America will show herself greater than ever because 
she will rise to a greater thing. We have said in the be- 

10 ginning that we planned this great Government that men 
who wish freedom might have a place of refuge and a 
place where their hope could be realized and now, having 
established such a Government, having preserved such a 
Government, having indicated the power of such a Gov- 

i5ernment, we are saying to all mankind, " We did not set 
this Government up in order that we might have a selfish 
and separate liberty, for we are now ready to come to your 
assistance and fight out upon the fields of the world the 
cause of human liberty." In this thing America attains 

20 her full dignity and the full fruition of her great purpose. 
No man can be glad that such things have happened 
as we have witnessed in these last fateful years, but per- 
haps it may be permitted to us to be glad that we have 
an opportunity to show the principles that we profess to 

25 be living, principles that live in our hearts, and to have 
a chance by the pouring out of our blood and treasure to 
vindicate the things that we have professed. For, my 
friends, the real fruition of life is to do the things we have 
said we wished to do. There are times when work seems 

30 empty and only action seems great. Such a time has come, 
and in the providence of God America will once more have 
an opportunity to show to the world that she was born 
to serve mankind. 



WOODROW WILSON 

24. THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 

A Message to the People and New Government of 
Russia, June 9, 1917 

In view of the approaching visit of the American dele- 
gation to Russia to express the deep friendship of the 
American people for the people of Russia and to discuss 
the best and most practical means of cooperation between 
the two peoples in carrying the present struggle for the 5 
freedom of all peoples to a successful consummation, it 
seems opportune and appropriate that I should state 
again, in the light of this new partnership, the objects 
the United vStates has had in mind in entering the war. 
Those objects have been very much beclouded during 10 
the past few weeks by mistaken and misleading state- 
ments, and the issues at stake are too momentous, too 
tremendous, too significant for the whole human race to 
permit any misinterpretations or misunderstandings, how- 
ever slight, to remain uncorrected for a moment. 15 

The war has begun to go against Germany, and in 
their desperate desire to escape the inevitable ultimate 
defeat those who are in authority in Germany are using 
every possible instrumentality, are making use even of 
the influence of groups and parties among their own sub- 20 
jects to whom they have never been just or fair or even 

175 



176 WOODROW WILSON 

tolerant, to promote a propaganda on both sides of the 
sea which will preserve for them their influence at home 
and their power abroad, to the undoing of the very men 
they are using. 
5 The position of America in this war is so clearly avowed 
that no man can be excused for mistaking it. She seeks 
no material profit or aggrandizement of any kind. She is 
fighting for no advantage or selfish object of her own, but 
for the liberation of peoples everywhere from the aggres- 

10 sions of autocratic force. The ruling classes in Germany 
have begun of late to profess a like liberality and justice 
of purpose, but only to preserve the power they have set 
up to Germany and the selfish advantages which they 
have wrongly gained for themselves and their private 

15 projects of power all the way from Berlin to Bagdad 
and beyond. Government after government has by their 
influence, without open conquest of its territory, been 
linked together in a net of intrigue directed against noth- 
ing less than the peace and liberty of the world. The 

20 meshes of that intrigue must be broken, but cannot be 
broken unless wrongs already done are undone; and 
adequate measures must be taken to prevent it from 
ever again being rewoven or repaired. 

Of course, the Imperial German Government and those 

25 whom it is using for their own undoing are seeking to 
obtain pledges that the war will end in the restoration of 
the status quo ante. It was the status quo ante out of 
which this iniquitous war issued forth, the power of the 
Imperial German Government within the Empire and its 

30 widespread domination and influence outside of that Em- 
pire. That status must be altered in such fashion as to 
prevent any such hideous thing from ever happening again. 



THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 177 

We are fighting for the liberty, the self-government, 
and the undictated development of all peoples, and every 
feature of the settlement that concludes this war must be 
conceived and executed for that purpose. Wrongs must 
first be righted, and then adequate safeguards must be 5 
created to prevent their being committed again. We 
ought not to consider remedies merely because they have 
a pleasing and sonorous sound. Practical questions can 
be settled only by practical means. Phrases will not 
accomplish the result. Effective readjustments will ; and 10 
whatever readjustments are necessary must be made. 

But they must follow a principle, and that principle is 
plain. Xo people must be forced under sovereignty under 
which it does not wish to live. No territory must change 
hands except for the purpose of securing those who inhabit 1 5 
it a fair chance of life and liberty. No indemnities must 
be insisted on except those that constitute payment for 
manifest wrongs done. No readjustments of power must 
be made except such as will tend to secure the future peace 
of the world and the future welfare and happiness of its 20 
peoples. 

And then the free peoples of the world must draw to- 
gether in some common covenant, some genuine and prac- 
tical cooperation that will in effect combine their force to 
secure peace and justice in the dealings of nations with one 25 
another. The brotherhood of mankind must no longer be 
a fair but empty phrase ; it must be given a structure of 
force and reality. The nations must realize their common 
life and effect a workable partnership to secure that life 
against the aggressions of autocratic and self-pleasing 30 
power. 

For these things we can afford to pour out blood and 



178 WOODROW WILSON 

treasure. For these are the things we have always pro- 
fessed to desire, and unless we pour out blood and treasure 
now and succeed, we may never be able to unite or show 
conquering force again in the great cause of human liberty. 
5 The day has come to conquer or submit. If the forces of 
autocracy can divide us they will overcome us : if we stand 
together, victory is certain and the liberty which victory 
will secure. We can afford then to be generous, but we 
cannot afford then or now to be weak or omit any single 
i o guarantee of justice and security. 



WOODROW WILSON 

25. OUR FLAG 

Flag Day Address, June 14, 1917 

My Fellow Citizens: 

We meet to celebrate Flag Day° because this flag 
which we honor, and under which we serve, is the emblem 
of our unity, our power, our thought and purpose as a 
nation. It has no other character than that which we 5 
give it from generation to generation. The choices are 
ours. It floats in majestic silence above the hosts that 
execute those choices, whether in peace or in war. And 
yet, though silent, it speaks to us — speaks to us of the 
past, of the men and women who went before us and of 10 
the records they wrote upon it. We celebrate the day of 
its birth, and from its birth until now it has witnessed a 
great history, has floated on high the symbol of great events, 
of a great plan of life worked out by a great people. We 
are about to carry it into battle, to lift it where it will draw 15 
the fire of our enemies. We are about to bid thousands, 
hundreds of thousands, it may be millions, of our men, 
the young, the strong, the capable men of the nation, to go 
forth and die beneath it on fields of blood far away — for 
what? For some unaccustomed thing? For something 20 
for which it has never sought before? American armies 
were never before sent across the seas. Why are they 
sent now? For some new purpose for which this great 

179 



180 WOODROW WILSON 

flag has never been carried before or for some old, familiar, 
heroic purpose for which it has seen men, its own men, die 
on every battlefield upon which Americans have borne 
arms since the Revolution ? 

5 These are questions which must be answered. We 
are Americans. We in our turn serve America, and can 
serve her with no private purpose. We must use her flag 
as she has always used it. We are accountable at the bar 
of history and must plead in utter frankness what purpose 

ioit is we seek to serve. 

It is plain enough how we were forced into the war. 
The extraordinary insults and aggressions of the Imperial 
German Government left us no self-respecting choice but to 
take up arms in defense of our rights as a free people and 

1 5 of our honor as a sovereign Government. The military 
masters of Germany denied us the right to be neutral. 
They filled our unsuspecting communities with vicious 
spies and conspirators and sought to corrupt the opinion 
of our people in their own behalf. 

20 When they found that they could not do that their 
agents diligently spread sedition among us and sought 
to draw our own citizens from their allegiance — and 
some of these agents were men connected with the official 
embassy of the German Government itself here in our 

25 own capital. They sought by violence to destroy our 
industries and arrest our commerce. They tried to incite 
Mexico to take up arms against us and to draw Japan 
into a hostile alliance with her — and that, not by in- 
direction but by direct suggestion from the Foreign Office 

30 in Berlin. They impudently denied us the use of the high 
seas and repeatedly executed their threat that they would 
send to their death any of our people who ventured to ap- 



OUR FLAG 181 

proach the coasts of Europe. And many of our own 
people were corrupted. Men began to look upon their 
own neighbors with suspicion and to wonder in their hot 
resentment and surprise whether there was any commun- 
ity in which hostile intrigue did not lurk. What great 5 
nation in such circumstances would not have taken up 
arms? Much as we had desired peace it was denied us, 
and not of our own choice. This flag under which we 
serve would have been dishonored had we withheld our 
hand. 10 

But that is only pan of the story. We know now as 
clearly as we knew before we were ourselves engaged that 
we are not the enemies of the German people and that 
they are not our enemies. They did not originate or de- 
sire this hideous war or wish that we should be drawn 15 
into it ; and we are vaguely conscious that we are fighting 
their cause, as they will some day see it. as well as our own. 
They are themselves in the grip of the same sinister power 
that has now at last stretched its ugly talons out and 
drawn blood from us. The whole world is at war because 20 
the whole world is in the grip of that power and is trying 
out the great battle which shall determine whether it is to 
be brought under its mastery or fling itself free. 

The war was begun by the military masters of Ger- 
many, who proved to be also the masters of Austria- 25 
Hungary. These men have never regarded nations as 
peoples, mem women, and children of like blood and 
frame as themselves, for whom governments existed and 
in whom governments had their life. They have regarded 
them merely as serviceable organizations which they could 3° 
by force or'h trigue bend or corrupt to their own purpose. 
They have regarded the smaller states in particular and 



182 WOODROW WILSON 

the peoples who could be overwhelmed by force as their 
natural tools and instruments of domination. Their 
purpose has long been avowed. The statesmen of other 
nations, to whom that purpose was incredible, paid little 
5 attention; regarded what German professors expounded 
in their class rooms, and German writers set forth to the 
world as the goal of German policy, as rather the dream of 
minds detached from practical affairs, as preposterous 
private conceptions of German destiny, than as the actual 

i o plans of responsible rulers; but the rulers of Germany 
themselves knew all the while what concrete plans, what 
well-advanced intrigues, lay back of what the professors 
and the writers were saying, and were glad to go forward 
unmolested, filling the thrones of Balkan states with 

1 5 German princes, putting German officers at the service of 
Turkey to drill her armies and make interest with her 
Government, developing plans of sedition and rebellion in 
India and Egypt, setting their fires in Persia. The de- 
mands made by Austria upon Serbia were a' mere single 

2 o step in a plan which compassed Europe and Asia, from 
Berlin to Bagdad. They hoped those demands might 
not arouse Europe, but they meant to press them whether 
they did or not, for they thought themselves ready for the 
final issue of arms. 

25 Their plan was to throw a broad belt of German military 
power and political control across the very center of Europe 
and beyond the Mediterranean into the heart of Asia, and 
Austria-Hungary was to be as much their tool and pawn 
as Serbia or Bulgaria or Turkey or the ponderous states 

30 of the East. Austria-Hungary, indeed, was to become 
part of the Central German Empire, absorbed and domi- 
r-ated by the same forces and influences that had originally 



OUR FLAG 183 

cemented the German states themselves. The dream had 
its heart at Berlin. It could have had a heart nowhere 
else. It rejected the idea of solidarity of race entirely. 
The choice of peoples played no part in it at all. It con- 
templated binding together racial and political units which 5 
could be kept together only by force — Czechs, Magyars, 
Croats, Serbs, Rumanians, Turks, Armenians — the 
proud states of Bohemia and Hungary, the stout little 
commonwealths of the Balkans, the indomitable Turks, 
the subtle peoples of the East. These peoples did not 10 
wish to be united. They ardently desired to direct their 
own affairs, and would be satisfied only by undisputed 
independence. They could be kept quiet only by the 
presence or the constant threat of armed men. They 
would live under a common power only by sheer compul- 1 5 
sion and await the day of revolution. But the German 
military statesmen had reckoned with all that and were 
ready to deal with it in their own way. 

And they have actually carried the greater part of that 
amazing plan into execution. Look how things stand. Aus- 20 
tria is at their mercy. It has acted, not upon its own initia- 
tive or upon the choice of its own people, but at Berlin's 
dictation ever since the war began. Its people now desire 
peace, but cannot have it until leave is granted from 
Berlin. The so-called Central Powers are in fact but a 25 
single Power. Serbia is at its mercy, should its hands be 
but for a moment freed. Bulgaria has consented to its 
will, and Rumania is overrun. The Turkish armies, 
which Germans trained, are serving Germany, certainly 
not themselves, and the guns of German warships lying 30 
in the harbor at Constantinople remind Turkish states- 
men every day that they have no choice but to take their 



184 WOODROW WILSON 

orders from Berlin. From Hamburg to the Persian Gulf 
the net is spread. 

Is it not easy to understand the eagerness for peace 
that has been manifested from Berlin ever since the snare 
5 was set and sprung? Peace, peace, peace has been the 
talk of her Foreign Office for now a year and more ; not 
peace upon her own initiative but upon the initiative 
of the nations over which she now deems herself to hold 
the advantage. A little of the talk has been public, but 

io most of it has been private. Through all sorts of channels 
it has come to me, and in all sorts of guises, but never with 
the terms disclosed which the German Government would 
be willing to accept. That Government has other valuable 
pawns in its hands besides those I have mentioned. It 

1 5 still holds a valuable part of France, though with slowly 
relaxing grasp, and practically the whole of Belgium. Its 
armies press close upon Russia and overrun Poland at their 
will. It cannot go further ; it dare not go back. It wishes 
to close its bargain before it is too late and it has little 

20 left to offer for the pound of flesh it will demand. 

The military masters under whom Germany is bleed- 
ing see very clearly to what point fate has brought them. 
If they fall back or are forced back an inch, their power 
both abroad and at home will fall to pieces like a house of 

25 cards. It is their power at home they are thinking about 
now more than their power abroad. It is that power which 
is trembling under their very feet, and deep fear has en- 
tered their hearts. They have but one chance to per- 
petuate their military power or even their controlling politi- 

3 ocal influence. If they can secure peace now with the 
immense advantages still in their hands which they have 
up to this point apparently gained, they will have justified 



OUR FLAG 185 

themselves before the German people ; they will have 
gained by force what they promised to gain by it, an im- 
mense expansion of German power, an immense enlarge- 
ment of German industrial and commercial opportunities. 
Their prestige will be secure, and with their prestige their 5 
political power. If they fail, their people will thrust 
them aside; a Government accountable to the people 
themselves will be set up in Germany as it has been in 
England, in the United States, in France, and in all the 
great countries of the modern time except Germany. If 10 
they succeed they are safe and Germany and the world are 
undone ; if they fail Germany is saved and the world will 
be at peace. If they succeed America will fall within the 
menace. We and all the rest of the world must remain 
armed as they will remain, and must make ready for the 15 
next step in their aggression ; if they fail the world may 
unite for peace and Germany may be of the union. 

Do you not now understand the new intrigue, the 
intrigue for peace, and why the masters of Germany do 
not hesitate to use any agency that promises to effect 20 
their purpose, the deceit of the nations? Their present 
particular aim is to deceive all those who throughout the 
world stand for the rights of peoples and the self-govern- 
ment of nations ; for they see what immense strength the 
forces of justice and of liberalism are gathering out of this 2$ 
war. They are employing liberals in their enterprise. 
They are using men, in Germany and without, as their 
spokesmen whom they have hitherto despised and op- 
pressed, using them for their own destruction — Social- 
ists, the leaders of labor, the thinkers they have hitherto 30 
sought to silence. Let them once succeed and these men, 
now their tools, will be ground to powder beneath the 



186 WOODROW WILSON 

weight of the great military empire they will have set up ; 
the revolutionists in Russia will be cut off from all succor 
or cooperation in western Europe and a counter revolution 
fostered and supported; Germany herself will lose her 
5 chance of freedom, and all Europe will arm for the next, 
the final, struggle. 

The sinister intrigue is being no less actively conducted 
in this country than in Russia and in every country in 
Europe to which the agents and dupes of the Imperial 

io German Government can get access. That Government 
has many spokesmen here, in places high and low. They 
have learned discretion. They keep within the law. It 
is opinion they utter now, not sedition. They proclaim 
the liberal purposes of their masters, declare this a foreign 

15 war which can touch America with no danger to either her 
lands or her institutions, set England at the center of the 
stage and talk of her ambition to assert economic dominion 
throughout the world, appeal to our ancient tradition of 
isolation in the politics of the nations and seek to under- 

20 mine the Government with false professions of loyalty 
to its principles. 

But they will make no headway. The false betray 
themselves always in every accent. It is only friends 
and partisans of the German Government whom we have 

25 already identified who utter these thinly disguised dis- 
loyalties. The facts are patent to all the world, and 
nowhere are they more plainly seen than in the United 
States, where we are accustomed to deal with facts and 
not with sophistries ; and the great fact that stands out 

30 above all the rest is that this is a people's war, a war for 
freedom and justice and self-government among all the 
nations of the world, a war to make the world safe for the 



OUR FLAG 187 

peoples who live upon it and have made it their own, the 
German people themselves included, and that with us rests 
the choice to break through all these hypocrisies and patent 
cheats and masks of brute force and help set the world 
free, or else stand aside and let it be dominated a long age 5 
through by sheer weight of arms and the arbitrary choices 
of self -constituted masters, by the nation which can main- 
tain the biggest armies and the most irresistible arma- 
ments — a power to which the world has afforded no par- 
allel and in the face of which political freedom must 10 
wither and perish. 

For us there is but one choice. We have made it. 
Woe be to the man or group of men that seeks to stand 
in our way in this day of high resolution when every prin- 
ciple we hold dearest is to be vindicated and made secure 15 
for the salvation of the nations. We are ready to plead 
at the bar of history, and our flag shall wear a new luster. 
Once more we shall make good with our lives and fortunes 
the great faith to which we were born, and a new glory 
shall shine in the face of our people. 20 



WOODROW WILSON 

26. TESTING A PLAN OF PEACE 
The Reply to the Pope 

Washington, D. C, August 27, 1917. 

To His Holiness Benedictus XV, Pope : 

In acknowledgment of the communication of your 
Holiness to the belligerent peoples, dated August 1, 1917, 
the President of the United States requests me to transmit 
5 the following reply : 

Every heart that has not been blinded and hardened 
by this terrible war must be touched by this moving ap- 
peal of his Holiness the Pope, must feel the dignity and 
force of the humane and generous motives which prompted 
ioit, and must fervently wish that we might take the path 
of peace he so persuasively points out. But it would be 
folly to take it if it does not in fact lead to the goal he pro- 
poses. Our response must be based upon the stern facts, 
and upon nothing else. It is not a mere cessation of arms 
1 5 he desires; it is a stable and enduring peace. This 
agony must not be gone through with again, and it must 
be a matter of very sober judgment what will insure us 
against it. 

His Holiness in substance proposes that we return to 

2othe status quo ante helium and that then there be a general 

condonation, disarmament, and a concert of nations 

based upon an acceptance of the principle of arbitration ; 

188 



TESTING A PLAN OF PEACE 189 

that by a similar concert freedom of the seas be estab- 
lished; and that the territorial claims of France and 
Italy, the perplexing problems of the Balkan states, and 
the restitution of Poland be left to such conciliatory ad- 
justments as may be possible in the new temper of such a 5 
peace, due regard being paid to the aspirations of the 
peoples whose political fortunes and affiliations will be 
involved. 

It is manifest that no part of this program can be suc- 
cessfully carried out unless the restitution of the status 10 
quo ante furnishes a firm and satisfactory basis for it. 
The object of this war is to deliver the free peoples of the 
world from the menace and the actual power of a vast 
military establishment controlled by an irresponsible 
government, which, having secretly planned to dominate 15 
the world, proceeded to carry the plan out without re- 
gard either to the sacred obligations of treaty or the long- 
established practices and long-cherished principles of in- 
ternational action and honor; which chose its own time 
for the war; delivered its blow fiercely and suddenly; 2 o 
stopped at no barrier, either of law or of mercy ; swept a 
whole continent within the tide of blood — not the blood 
of soldiers only, but the blood of innocent women and 
children also and of the helpless poor; and now stands 
balked, but not defeated, the enemy of four-fifths of the 25 
world. 

This power is not the German people. It is the ruthless 
master of the German people. It is no business of ours 
how that great people came under its control or submitted 
with temporary zest to the domination of its purpose ; 30 
but it is our business to see to it that the history of the 
rest of the world is no longer left to its handling. 



190 WOODROW WILSON 

To deal with such a power by way of peace upon the 
plan proposed by his Holiness the Pope would, so far 
as we can see, involve a recuperation of its strength and 
a renewal of its policy ; would make it necessary to ere- 
5 ate a permanent hostile combination of nations against 
the German people, who are its instruments ; and would 
result in abandoning the new-born Russia to the intrigue, 
the manifold subtle interference, and the certain counter- 
revolution which would be attempted by all the malign 

i o influences to which the German Government has of late 
accustomed the world. 

Can peace be based upon a restitution of its power or 
upon any word of honor it could pledge in a treaty of set- 
tlement and accommodation? 

15 Responsible statesmen must now everywhere see, if 
they never saw before, that no peace can rest securely upon 
political or economic restrictions meant to benefit some 
nations and cripple or embarrass others, upon vindictive 
action of any sort, or any kind of revenge or deliberate 

20 injury. The American people have suffered intolerable 
wrongs at the hands of the Imperial German Government, 
but they desire no reprisal upon the German people, who 
have themselves suffered all things in this war, which they 
did not choose. They believe that peace should rest upon 

25 the rights of peoples, not the rights of governments — the 
rights of peoples, great or small, weak or powerful — their 
equal right to freedom and security and self-government, 
and to a participation upon fair terms in the economic 
opportunities of the world, the German people, of course, 

30 included, if they will accept equality and not seek dom- 
ination. 

The test, therefore, of every plan of peace is this : Is 



TESTING A PLAN OF PEACE 191 

it based upon the faith of all the peoples involved, or 
merely upon the word of an ambitious and intriguing 
Government, on the one hand, and of a group of free 
peoples, on the other? This is a test which goes to the 
root of the matter ; and it is the test which must be s 
applied. 

The purposes of the United States in this war are 
known to the whole world — to every people to whom 
the truth has been permitted to come. They do not need 
to be stated again. We seek no material advantage of 10 
any kind. We believe that the intolerable wrongs done 
in this war by the furious and brutal power of the Im- 
perial German Government ought to be repaired, but not 
at the expense of the sovereignty of any people — rather 
a vindication of the sovereignty both of those that are 15 
weak and of those that are strong. Punitive damages, 
the dismemberment of empires, the establishment of 
selfish and exclusive economic leagues, we deem inex- 
pedient, and in the end worse than futile, no proper basis 
for a peace of any kind, least of all for an enduring peace. 20 
That must be based upon justice and fairness and the 
common rights of mankind. 

We cannot take the word of the present rulers of Ger- 
many as a guarantee of anything that is to endure unless 
explicitly supported by such conclusive evidence of the 25 
will and purpose of the German people themselves as the 
other peoples of the world would be justified in accepting. 
Without such guarantees treaties of settlement, agree- 
ments for disarmament, covenants to set up arbitration 
in place of force, territorial adjustments, reconstitutions 30 
of small nations, if made with the German Government, 
no man, no nation, could now depend on. 



192 WOODROW WILSON 

We must await some new evidence of the purposes of 
the great peoples of the Central Powers. 

God grant it may be given soon and in a way to restore 
the confidence of all peoples everywhere in the faith of 
5 nations and the possibility of a covenanted peace. 

Robert Lansing, 
Secretary of State of the United States of America. 



WOODROW WILSON 
27. STRUGGLING WITH AUTOCRACY 
Message to Congress December 4, 1917 

Gentlemen of the Congress: 

Eight months have elapsed since I last had the honor 
of addressing you. They have been months crowded 
with events of immense and grave significance for us. I 
shall not undertake to detail or even to summarize these 5 
events. The practical particulars of the part we have 
played in them will be laid before you in the reports of 
the executive departments. I shall discuss only our 
present outlook upon these vast affairs, our present duties, 
and the immediate means of accomplishing the objects we 10 
shall hold always in view. 

I shall not go back to debate the causes of the war. 
The intolerable wrongs done and planned against us by 
the sinister masters of Germany have long since become 
too grossly obvious and odious to every true American 15 
to need to be rehearsed. But I shall ask you to consider 
again and with very grave scrutiny our objectives and 
the measures by which we mean to attain them ; for the 
purpose of discussion here in this place is action and our 
action must move straight toward definite ends. Our 20 
object is, of course, to win the war, and we shall not 
slacken or surfer ourselves to be diverted until it is 

193 



194 WOODROW WILSON 

won. But it is worth while asking and answering the 
question, When shall we consider the war won ? 

From one point of view it is not necessary to broach 
this fundamental matter. I do not doubt that the Amer- 
5 ican people know what the war is about and what sort of 
an outcome they will regard as a realization of their pur- 
pose in it. As a nation we are united in spirit and inten- 
tion. 

I pay little heed to those who tell me otherwise. I hear 

10 the voices of dissent — who does not ? I hear the criticism 
and the clamor of the noisily thoughtless and troublesome. 
I also see men here and there fling themselves in impotent 
disloyalty against the calm, indomitable power of the na- 
tion. I hear men debate peace who understand neither 

15 its nature nor the way in which we may attain it, with 
uplifted eyes and unbroken spirits. But I know that none 
of these speaks for the nation. They do not touch the 
heart of anything. They may safely be left to strut about 
their uneasy hour and be forgotten. 

20 But from another point of view I believe that it is 
necessary to say plainly what we here at the seat of action 
consider the war to be for and what part we mean to play 
in the settlement of its searching issues. We are the 
spokesmen of the American people and they have a right 

25 to know whether their purpose is ours. They desire peace 
by the overcoming of evil, by the defeat once and for all 
of the sinister forces that interrupt peace and render it 
impossible, and they wish to know how closely our thought 
runs with theirs and what action we propose. They are 

30 impatient with those who desire peace by any sort of 
compromise — deeply and indignantly impatient — but 
they will be equally impatient with us if we do not make 



STRUGGLING WITH AUTOCRACY 195 

it plain to them what our objectives are and what we are 
planning for in seeking to make conquest of peace by arms. 

I believe that I speak for them when I say two things : 
First, that this intolerable Thing of which the masters of 
Germany have shown us the ugly face, this menace of com- 5 
bined intrigue and force, which we now see so clearly as the 
German power, a Thing without conscience or honor or 
capacity for covenanted peace, must be crushed, and if it 
be not utterly brought to an end, at least shut out from 
the friendly intercourse of the nations; and, second, that 10 
when this Thing and its power are indeed defeated and the 
time comes that we can discuss peace — when the German 
people have spokesmen whose word we can believe, and 
when those spokesmen are ready in the name of their 
people to accept the common judgment of the nations as 15 
to what shall henceforth be the basis of law and of cove- 
nant for the life of the world — we shall be willing and 
glad to pa} r the full price for peace, and pay it ungrudg- 
ingly. We know what that price will be. It will be full, 
impartial justice — justice done at every point and to 20 
every nation that the final settlement must affect, our 
enemies as well as our friends. 

You catch, with me, the voices of humanity that are in 
the air. They grow daily more audible, more articulate, 
more persuasive, and they come from the hearts of men 25 
everywhere. They insist that the war shall not end in 
vindictive action of any kind ; that no nation or people 
shall be robbed or punished because the irresponsible 
rulers of a single country have themselves done deep and 
abominable wrong. It is this thought that has been ex- 30 
pressed in the formula, "No annexations, no contribu- 
tions, no punitive indemnities." 



196 WOODROW WILSON 

Just because this crude formula expresses the instinctive 
judgment as to the right of plain men everywhere it has 
been made diligent use of by the masters of German in- 
trigue to lead the people of Russia astray, and the people 
5 of every other country their agents could reach, in order 
that a premature peace might be brought about before 
autocracy has been taught its final and convincing lesson 
and the people of the world put in control of their own 
destinies. 

10 But the fact that a wrong use has been made of a just 
idea is no reason why a right use should not be made of 
it. It ought to be brought under the patronage of its 
real friends. Let it be said again that autocracy must 
first be shown the utter futility of its claims to power or 

15 leadership in the modern world. It is impossible to apply 
any standard of justice so long as such forces are un- 
checked and undefeated as the present masters of Ger- 
many command. Not until that has been done can right 
be set up as arbiter and peacemaker among the nations. 

20 But when that has been done — as, God willing, it as- 
suredly will be — w^e shall at last be free to do an unprece- 
dented thing, and this is the time to avow our purpose 
to do it. We shall be free to base peace on generosity 
and justice, to the exclusion of all selfish claims to advan- 

25 tage even on the part of the victors. 

Let there be no misunderstanding. Our present and 
immediate task is to win the war, and nothing shall turn 
us aside from it until it is accomplished. Every power 
and resource we possess, whether of men, of money, or of 

30 materials, is being devoted and will continue to be devoted 
to that purpose until it is achieved. Those who desire 
to bring peace about before that purpose is achieved I 



STRUGGLING WITH AUTOCRACY 197 

counsel to carry their advice elsewhere. We will not 
entertain it. 

We shall regard the war as won only when the German 
people say to us, through properly accredited represent- 
atives, that they are ready to agree to a settlement based 5 
upon justice and the reparation of the wrongs their rulers 
have done. They have done a wrong to Belgium, which 
must be repaired. They have established a powder over 
other lands and peoples than their own — over the great 
empire of Austria-Hungary, over hitherto free Balkan 10 
states, over Turkey, and within Asia — which must be 
relinquished. 

Germany's success by skill, by industry, by knowledge, 
by enterprise, we did not grudge or oppose, but admired 
rather. She had built up for herself a real empire of 15 
trade and influence, secured by the peace of the world. 
We were content to abide the rivalries of manufacture, 
science, and commerce that w r ere involved for us in her 
success and stand or fall as we had or did not have the 
brains and the initiative to surpass her. But at the 20 
moment when she had conspicuously won her triumphs 
of peace she threw them away to establish in their stead 
what the world will no longer permit to be established, 
military and political domination by arms, by which to 
oust where she could not excel the rivals she most feared 25 
and hated. 

The peace we make must remedy that wrong. It must 
deliver the once fair lands and happy peoples of Belgium 
and northern France from the Prussian conquest and the 
Prussian menace, but it must also deliver the peoples of 30 
Austria-Hungary, the peoples of the Balkans, and the 
peoples of Turkey, alike in Europe and in Asia, from the 



198 WOODROW WILSON 

impudent and alien domination of the Prussian military 
and commercial autocracy. 

We owe it, however, to ourselves to say that we do not 
wish in any way to impair or to rearrange the Austro- 
5 Hungarian Empire. It is no affair of ours what they do 
with their own life, either industrially or politically. We 
do not purpose nor desire to dictate to them in any way. 
We only desire to see that their affairs are left in their 
own hands, in all matters, great or small. We shall hope 

ioto secure for the peoples of the Balkan peninsula and for 
the people of the Turkish Empire the right and oppor- 
tunity to make their own lives safe, their own fortunes 
secure against oppression or injustice and from the dic- 
tation of foreign courts or parties, and our attitude and 

15 purpose with regard to Germany herself are of a like kind. 
We intend no wrong against the German Empire, no 
interference with her internal affairs. We should deem 
either the one or the other absolutely unjustifiable, ab- 
solutely contrary to the principles we have professed to 

20 live by and to hold most sacred throughout our life as a 
nation. 

The people of Germany are being told by the men 
whom they now permit to deceive them and to act as 
their masters that they are fighting for the very life and 

25 existence of their empire, a war of desperate self-defense 
against deliberate aggression. Nothing could be more 
grossly or wantonly false, and we must seek by the utmost 
openness and candor as to our real aims to convince them 
of its falseness. We are in fact fighting for their emanci- 

3opation from fear, along with our own, from the fear as 
well as from the fact of unjust attack by neighbors or 
rivals or schemers after world empire. No one is threaten- 



STRUGGLING WITH AUTOCRACY 199 

Lag the existence or the independence or the peaceful 
enterprise oi the German Empire. 

The worst that can happen to the detriment of the 
German people is this, that if they should still, after 
the war is over, continue to be obliged to live under am- 5 
bitious and intriguing masters interested to disturb the 
peace of the world, men or classes of men whom the other 
peoples of the world could not trust, it might be impossible 
to admit them to the partnership of nations which must 
henceforth guarantee the world's peace. That partnership 10 
must be a partnership of peoples, not a mere partnership 
of g: vs. 

It might be impossible, also, in such untoward circum- 
to admit Germany to the free economic intercourse 
which must inevitably spring out of the other partnerships 15 

peace. But there would be no aggression in that : 
and such a situation, inevitable because of distrust, would 
in the very nature of tilings sooner or later cure itself, by 
processes which would assuredly set in. 

The wrongs, the very deep wrongs, committed in this 20 
war will have to be righted. That of course. But they 
cannot and must not be righted by the commission of 
similar wrongs against Germany and her allies. The world 
will not permit the commission of similar wrongs as a means 
of reparation and settlement . Statesmen must by this time 25 
have learned that the opinion of the world is everywhere 
wide awake and fully comprehends the issues involved. No 
representative of any self-governed nation will dare disre- 
gard it by attempting any such covenants of selfishness and 
compromise as were entered into at the Congress of Vienna/ 30 

The thought of the plain people here and everywhere 
throughout the world, the people who enjoy no privilege 



200 WOODROW WILSON 

and have very simple and unsophisticated standards of 
right and wrong, is the air all governments must hence- 
forth breathe if they would live. It is in the full disclosing 
light of that thought that all policies must be conceived 
5 and executed in this midday hour of the world's life. 

German rulers have been able to upset the peace of the 
world only because the German people were not suffered 
under their tutelage to share the comradeship of the other 
peoples of the world either in thought or in purpose. 

i o They were allowed to have no opinion of their own which 
might be set up as a rule of conduct for those who exercised 
authority over them. But the congress that concludes this 
war will feel the full strength of the tides that run now in 
the hearts and consciences of free men everywhere. Its 

15 conclusions will run with those tides. 

All these things have been true from the very beginning 
of this stupendous war ; and I cannot help thinking that 
if they had been made plain at the very outset the sym- 
pathy and enthusiasm of the Russian people might have 

20 been once for all enlisted on the side of the Allies, suspicion 
and distrust swept away, and a real and lasting union of 
purpose effected. Had they believed these things at the 
very moment of their revolution and had they been con- 
firmed in that belief since, the sad reverses which have 

25 recently marked the progress of their affairs toward an 
ordered and stable government of free men might have 
been avoided. 

The Russian people have been poisoned by the very 
same falsehoods that have kept the German people in the 

30 dark, and the poison has been administered by the very 
same hands. The only possible antidote is the truth. It 
cannot be uttered too plainly or too often. 



STRUGGLING WITH AUTOCRACY 201 

From every point of view, therefore, it has seemed to 
be my duty to speak these declarations of purpose, to 
add these specific interpretations to what I took the 
liberty of saying to the Senate in January. Our entrance 
into the war has not altered our attitude toward the settle- 5 
ment that must come when it is over. When I said in 
January that the nations of the world were entitled not 
only to free pathways upon the sea but also to assured 
and unmolested access to those pathways I was thinking, 
and I am thinking now, not of the smaller and weaker 10 
nations alone, which need our countenance and support, 
but also of the great and powerful nations, and of our 
present enemies as well as our present associates in the 
war. I was thinking, and am thinking now, of Austria 
herself, among the rest, as well as of Serbia and of Poland. 15 
Justice and equality of rights can be had only at a great 
price. We are seeking permanent, not temporary, founda- 
tions for the peace of the world, and must seek them can- 
didly and fearlessly. As always, the right will prove to 
be the expedient. 20 

What shall we do, then, to push this great war of free- 
dom and justice to its righteous conclusion? We must 
clear awaj^ with a thorough hand all impediments to suc- 
cess, and we must make every adjustment of law that 
will facilitate the full and free use of our whole capacity 25 
and force as a fighting unit. 

One very embarrassing obstacle that stands in our way 
is that we are at war with Germany, but not with her 
allies. I therefore very earnestly recommend that the 
Congress immediately declare the United States in a state 30 
of war with Austria-Hungary. Does it seem strange to 
you that this should be the conclusion of the argument I 



202 / WOODROW WILSON 

have just addressed to you? It is not. It is in fact the 
inevitable logic of what I have said. Austria-Hungary is 
for the time being not her own mistress, but simply the 
vassal of the German Government. We must face the 
5 facts as they are and act upon them without sentiment 
in this stern business. 

The Government of Austria-Hungary is not acting upon 
its own initiative or in response to the wishes and feelings 
of its own peoples, but as the instrument of another nation. 

ioWe must meet its force with our own and regard the 
Central Powers as but one. The war can be successfully 
conducted in no other way. The same logic would lead 
also to a declaration of war against Turkey and Bulgaria. 
They also are the tools of Germany. But they are mere 

1 5 tools and do not yet stand in the direct path of our neces- 
sary action. We shall go wherever the necessities of this 
war carry us, but it seems to me that we should go only 
where immediate and practical considerations lead us and 
not heed any others. 

20 The financial and military measures which must be 
adopted will suggest themselves as the war and its under- 
takings develop, but I will take the liberty of proposing 
to you certain other acts of legislation which seem to me 
to be needed for the support of the war and for the release 

2 s of our whole force and energy. 

It will be necessary to extend in certain particulars the 
legislation of the last session with regard to alien enemies ° ; 
and also necessary, I believe, to create a very definite and 
particular control over the entrance and departure of all 

30 persons into and from the United States. 

Legislation should be enacted defining as a criminal 
offense every willful violation of the Presidential procla- 



STRUGGLING WITH AUTOCRACY 203 

mations relating to enemy aliens promulgated under 
Section 4067 of the Revised Statutes and providing ap- 
propriate punishment ; and women as well as men should 
be included under the terms of the acts placing restraints 
upon alien enemies, It is likely that as time goes on many 5 
alien enemies will be willing to be fed and housed at the 
expense of the Government in the detention camps, and 
it would be the purpose of the legislation I have suggested 
to confine offenders among them in penitentiaries and 
other similar institutions where they could be made to io 
work as other criminals do. 

Recent experience has convinced me that the Congress 
must go further in authorizing the Government to set 
limits to prices. The law of supply and demand, I am 
sorry to say, has been replaced by the law of unrestrained 1 5 
selfishness. While we have eliminated profiteering in 
several branches of industry it still runs impudently 
rampant in others. The farmers, for example, complain 
with a good deal of justice that, while the regulation of 
food prices restricts their incomes, no restraints are placed 20 
upon the prices of most of the things they must themselves 
purchase ; and similar iniquities obtain on all sides. 

It is imperatively necessary that the consideration of the 
full use of the water power of the country and also the 
consideration of the systematic and yet economical de- 25 
velopment of such of the natural resources cf the country 
as are still under the control of the Federal Government 
should be resumed and affirmatively and constructively 
dealt with at the earliest possible moment. The pressing 
need of such legislation is daily 1 c coming more obvious. .30 

The legislation proposed at the last session with regard 
to regulated combinations among our exporters, in order 



204 WOODROW WILSON 

to provide for our foreign trade a more effective organiza- 
tion and method of cooperation, ought by all means to be 
completed at this session. 
And I beg that the members of the House of Represent- 
5 atives will permit me to express the opinion that it will 
be impossible to deal in any way but a very wasteful and 
extravagant fashion with the enormous appropriations of 
the public moneys which must continue to be made, if 
the war is to be properly sustained, unless the House will 

io consent to return to its former practice of initiating and 
preparing all appropriation bills through a single com- 
mittee, in order that responsibility may be centered, 
expenditures standardized and made uniform, and waste 
and duplication as much as possible avoided. 

15 Additional legislation may also become necessary before 
the present Congress adjourns in order to effect the most 
efficient coordination and operation of the railway and 
other transportation systems of the country; but to 
that I shall, if circumstances should demand, call the 

20 attention of Congress upon another occasion. 

If I have overlooked anything that ought to be done 
for the more effective conduct of the war, your own coun- 
sels will supply the omission. What I am perfectly clear 
about is that in the present session of the Congress our 

25 whole attention and energy should be concentrated on 
the vigorous and rapid and successful prosecution of the 
great task of winning the war. 

We can do this with all the greater zeal and enthusiasm 
because we know that for us this is a war of high principle, 

30 debased by no selfteh ambition of conquest or spoliation ; 
because we know, and all the world knows, that we have 
been forced into it to save the very institutions we live 



STRUGGLING WITH AUTOCRACY 205 

under from corruption and destruction. The purposes 
of the Central Powers strike straight at the very heart 
of everything we believe in; their methods of warfare 
outrage every principle of humanity and of knightly 
honor ; their intrigue has corrupted the very thought and 5 
spirit of many of our people; their sinister and secret 
diplomacy has sought to take our very territory away 
from us and disrupt the union of the states. Our safety 
would be at an end, our honor forever sullied and 
brought into contempt, were we to permit their triumph. 10 
They are striking at the very existence of democracy and 
liberty. 

It is because it is for us a war of high, disinterested pur- 
pose, in which all the free people of the world are banded 
together for the vindication of right, a war for the preser- 15 
vation of our nation and of all that it has held dear of 
principle and of purpose, that we feel ourselves doubly 
constrained to propose for its outcome only that which is 
righteous and of irreproachable intention, for our foes as 
well as for our friends. 20 

The cause being just and holy, the settlement must be 
of like motive and quality. For this we can fight, but for 
nothing less noble or less worthy of our traditions. For 
this cause we entered the war and for this cause will we 
battle until the last gun is fired. 25 

I have spoken plainly because this seems to me the time 
when it is most necessary to speak plainly, in order that 
all the world may know that even in the heat and ardor 
of the struggle and when our whole thought is of carrying 
the war through to its end we have not forgotten any 30 
ideal or principle for which the name of America has been 
held in honor among the nations and for which it has been 



206 WOODROW WILSON 

our glory to contend in the great generations that went 
before us. 

A supreme moment of history has come. The eyes of 

the people have been opened and they see. The hand of 

5 God is laid upon the nations. He will show them favor, 

I devoutly believe, only if they rise to the clear heights of 

His own mercy and justice. 



WOODROW WILSON 
28. WAR AIMS AND PEACE TERMS 

Address to Congress, January 8, 1918 

Gentlemen of the Congress : 

Once more, as repeatedly before, the spokesmen of the 
Central Empires have indicated their desire to discuss the 
objects of the war and the possible basis of a general 
peace. Parleys have been in progress at Brest-Litovsk 5 
between Russian representatives and representatives of 
the Central Powers to which the attention of all the bel- 
ligerents has been invited for the purpose of ascertaining 
whether it may be possible to extend these parleys into 
a general conference with regard to terms of peace and 10 
settlement. The Russian representatives presented not 
only a perfectly definite statement of the principles upon 
which they would be willing to conclude peace, but also 
an equally definite program of the concrete application of 
those principles. The representatives of the Central 15 
Powers, on their part, presented an outline of settlement 
which, if much less definite, seemed susceptible of liberal 
interpretation until their specific program of practical 
terms was added. 

That program proposed no concessions at all, either to 20 
the sovereignty of Russia, or to the preferences of the 
population with whose fortunes it dealt, but meant, in a 
word, that the Central Empires were to keep every foot 

207 



208 WOODROW WILSON 

of territory their armed forces had occupied — every 
province, every city, every point of vantage — as a per- 
manent addition to their territories and their power. It 
is a reasonable conjecture that the general principles of 
5 settlement which they at first suggested originated with 
the more liberal statesmen of Germany and Austria, the 
men who had begun to feel the force of their own people's 
thought and purpose, while the concrete terms of actual 
settlement came from the military leaders, who have no 

i o thought but to keep what they have got. The negotia- 
tions have been broken off. The Russian representatives 
were sincere and in earnest. They cannot entertain such 
proposals of conquest and domination. 

The whole incident is full of significance. It is also full 

15 of perplexity. With whom are the Russian representatives 
dealing? For whom are the representatives of the Cen- 
tral Empires speaking? Are they speaking for the major- 
ities of their respective parliaments, or for the minority 
parties, that military and imperialistic minority which 

20 has so far dominated their whole policy and controlled 
the affairs of Turkey and of the Balkan states, which 
have felt obliged to become their associates in this war? 
The Russian representatives have insisted, very justly, 
very wisely, and in the true spirit of modern democracy 

25 that the conferences they have been holding with the 
Teutonic and Turkish statesmen should be held within 
open, not closed, doors, and all the world has been audi- 
ence, as was desired. To whom have we been listening, 
then ? To those who speak the spirit and intention of 

30 the resolutions of the German Reichstag of the 19th of 
July last, the spirit and intention of the liberal leaders and 
parties of Germany, or to those who resist and defy that 



WAR AIMS AND PEACE TERMS 209 

spirit and intention and insist upon conquest and sub- 
jugations? Or are we listening, in fact, to both, unrecon- 
ciled and in open and hopeless contradiction? These 
are very serious and pregnant questions. Upon the 
answer to them depends the peace of the world . 5 

But whatever the results of the parleys at Brest-Litovsk, 
whatever the confusions of counsel and of purpose in the 
utterances of the spokesmen of the Central Empires, they 
have again attempted to acquaint the world with their 
objects in the war and have again challenged their ad- 10 
versaries to say what their objects are and what sort of set- 
tlement they would deem just and satisfactory. There 
is no good reason why that challenge should not be re- 
sponded to, and responded to with the utmost candor. 
We did not wait for it. Not once,° but again and again 15 
we have laid our whole thought and purpose before the 
world, not in general terms only, but each time with 
sufficient definition to make it clear what sort of definite 
terms of settlement must necessarily spring out of them. 

Within the last week, Mr. Lloyd George has spoken with 2c 
admirable candor and in admirable spirit for the people 
and Government of Great Britain. There is no con- 
fusion of counsel among the adversaries of the Central 
Powers, no uncertainty of principle, no vagueness of de- 
tail. The only secrecy of counsel, the only lack of fear- 25 
less frankness, the only failure to make definite state- 
ments of the objects of the war, lies with Germany and 
her allies. The issues of life and death hang upon these 
definitions. No statesman who has the least conception 
of his responsibility ought for a moment to permit him- 30 
self to continue this tragical and appalling outpouring of 
blood and treasure unless he is sure beyond a pernd venture 
p 



210 WOODROW WILSON 

that the objects of the vital sacrifice are part and parcel 
of the very life of society and that the people for whom 
he speaks think them right and imperative, as he does. 
There is, moreover, a voice calling for these definitions 
5 of principle and of purpose which is, it seems to me, more 
thrilling and more compelling than any of the many mov- 
ing voices with which the troubled air of the world is filled. 
It is the voice 'of the Russian people. They are pros- 
trate and all but helpless, it would seem, before the grim 

i o power of Germany, which has hitherto known no relent- 
ing and no pity. Their power, apparently, is shattered, 
and yet their soul is not subservient. They will not yield 
either in principle or in action. Their conviction of 
what is right, of what it is humane and honorable for them 

1 5 to accept, has been stated with a frankness, a largeness 
of view, a generosity of spirit, and a universal human 
sympathy which must challenge the admiration of every 
friend of mankind, and they have refused to compound 
their ideals or desert others that they themselves may 

2obe safe. They call to us to say what it is that we desire, 
in what, if in anything, our purpose and our spirit dif- 
fer from theirs, and I believe that the people of the United 
States would wish me to respond with utter simplicity 
and frankness. Whether their present leaders believe it 

25 or not, it is our heartfelt desire and hope that some way 
may be opened whereby we may be privileged to assist 
the people of Russia to attain their utmost hope of liberty 
and ordered peace. 

It will be our wish and purpose that the processes of 

30 peace, when they are begun, shall be absolutely open, 
and that they shall involve and permit henceforth no se- 
cret understandings of any kind. The day of conquest and 



WAR AIMS AND PEACE TERMS 211 

aggrandizement is gone by; so is also the day of secret 
covenants entered into in the interest of particular gov- 
ernments, and likely at some unlooked-for moment to up- 
set the peace of the world. It is this happy fact, now 
clear to the view of every public man whose thoughts do 5 
not still linger in an age that is dead and gone, which 
makes it possible for every nation whose purposes are 
consistent with justice and the peace of the world to avow 
now or at any other time the objects it has in view. We 
entered this war because violations of right had occurred 10 
which touched us to the quick and made the life of our 
own people impossible unless they were corrected and 
the world secured once for all against their recurrence. 
What we demand in this war, therefore, is nothing peculiar 
to ourselves. It is that the world be made fit and safe to 15 
live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every 
peace-loving nation, which, like our own, wishes to live 
its own life, determine its own institutions, and be assured 
of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world 
as against force and selfish aggression. All the peoples 20 
of the world are in effect partners in this interest, and for 
our own part we see very clearly that unless justice be done 
to others it will not be done to us. 

The program of the world's peace, therefore, is our 
program, and that program, the only possible program, 25 
as we see it, is this : 

1. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after 
which there shall be no private international understand- 
ings of any kind, but diplomacy shall proceed always 
frankly and in the public view. 30 

2. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, 
outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, ex- 



212 WOODROW WILSON 

cept as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by in- 
ternational action for the enforcement of international 
covenants. 

3. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic 
5 barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade 

conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace 
and associating themselves for its maintenance. 

4. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national 
armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent 

i o with domestic safety. 

5. A free, open minded, and absolutely impartial ad- 
justment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict ob- 
servance of the principle that in determining all such ques- 
tions of sovereignty the interests of the populations 

15 concerned must have equal weight with the equitable 
claims of the government whose title is to be determined. 

6. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a 
settlement of all questions affecting Russia, as will secure 
the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the 

20 world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembar- 
rassed opportunity for the independent determination of 
her own political development and national policy, and 
assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free 
nations under institutions of her own choosing ; and, more 

25 than a welcome, assistance also of very kind that she may 
need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded 
Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be 
the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of 
her needs as distinguished from their own interests, and 

30 of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy. 

7. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be 
evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit 



WAR AIMS AND PEACE TERMS 213 

the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other 
free nations. No other single act will serve as this will 
serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws 
which they have themselves set and determined for the 
government of their relations with one another. With- 5 
out this healing act the whole structure and validity of 
international law is forever impaired. 

8. All French territory should be freed and the in- 
vaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France 
by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, 10 
which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly 
fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may 
once more be made secure in the interest of all. 

9. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should 
be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality. 15 

10. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place 
among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and as- 
sured, should be accorded the freest opportunity of auton- 
omous development. 

11. Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be 20 
evacuated, occupied territories restored, Serbia accorded 
free and secure access to the sea, and the relations of the 
several Balkan states to one another determined by 
friendly counsel along historically established lines of 
allegiance and nationality, and international guarantees 25 
of the political and economic independence and territorial 
integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered 
into. 

12. The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman 
Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the 30 
other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule 
should be assured an undoubted security of life and an 



214 WOODROW WILSON 

absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous de- 
velopment, and the Dardanelles should be permanently 
opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of 
all nations under international guaranties. 
5 13. An independent Polish state should be erected, 
which should include the territories inhabited by indis- 
putably Polish populations, which should be assured a 
free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and 
economic independence and territorial integrity should 

iobe guaranteed by international covenant. 

14. A general association of nations must be formed 
under specific covenants for the purpose of affording 
mutual guaranties of political independence and terri- 
torial integrity to great and small states alike. 

15 In regard to these essential rectifications of wrong and 
assertions of right, we feel ourselves to be intimate partners 
of all the Governments and peoples associated together 
against the imperialists. We cannot be separated in 
interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until 

2othe end. 

For such arrangements and covenants we are willing 
to fight and to continue to fight until they are achieved, 
but only because we wish the right to prevail, and desire 
a just and stable peace, such as can be secured only by 

25 removing the chief provocations to war, which this pro- 
gram does remove. We have no jealousy of German great- 
ness, and there is nothing in this program that impairs it. 
We grudge her no achievement or distinction of learning 
or of specific enterprise, such as have made her record 

30 very bright and very enviable. We do not wish to in- 
jure her, or to block in any way her legitimate influence or 
power. We do not wish to fight her either with arms or 



WAR AIMS AND PEACE TERMS 215 

with hostile arrangements of trade, if she is willing to 
associate herself with us and the other peace-loving nations 
of the world in covenants of justice and law and fair 
dealing. We wish her only to accept a place of equality 
among the peoples of the w T orld — the new world in 5 
which we now live — instead of a place of mastery. 

Neither do we presume to suggest to her any altera- 
tion or modification of her institutions. But it is neces- 
sary, we must frankly say. and necessary as a preliminary 
to any intelligent dealings with her on our part, that we 10 
should know whom her spokesmen speak for when they 
speak to us, wmether for the Reichstag majority, or for 
the military party and the men whose creed is imperial 
domination. 

We have spoken now, surely, in terms too concrete to 15 
admit of any further doubt or question. An evident 
principle runs through the whole program I have outlined. 
It is the principle of justice to all peoples and nationalities, 
and their right to live on equal terms of liberty and 
safety with one another, whether they be strong or weak. 20 
Unless this principle be made its foundation, no part of 
the structure of international justice can stand. The 
peoples of the United States could act on no other princi- 
ple and to the vindication they are ready to devote their 
lives, their honor, and everything that they possess. 25 

The moral climax of this, the culminating and final war 
for human liberty, has come, and they are ready to put 
their own strength, their own highest purpose, their own 
integrity and devotion to the test. 



WOODROW WILSON 

29. MESSAGE TO THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE 

March 11, 1918 

May I not take advantage of the meeting of the Con- 
gress of the Soviets to express the sincere sympathy which 
the people of the United States feel for the Russian people 
at this moment when the German power has been thrust 
5 in to interrupt and turn back the whole struggle for free- 
dom and substitute the wishes of Germany for the purpose 
of the people of Russia ? 

Although the Government of the United States is, 
unhappily, not now in a position to render the direct and 
i o effective aid it would wish to render I beg to assure the 
people of Russia through the Congress that it will avail 
itself of every opportunity to secure for Russia once more 
complete sovereignty and independence in her own affairs 
and full restoration to her great r61e in the life of Europe 
15 and the modern world. 

The whole heart of the people of the United States 
is with the people of Russia in the attempt to free them- 
selves forever from autocratic government and become the 
masters of their own life. - 



216 



WOODROW WILSON 

30. PRINCIPLES OF PEACE 

Address to Congress, February 11, 1918 

Gentlemen of the Congress : On the 8th of January 
I had the honor of addressing you on the objects of the 
war as our people conceive them. The Prime Minister 
of Great Britain had spoken in similar terms on the 5th 
of January. To these addresses the German Chancellor $ 
replied on the 24th and Count Czernin for Austria on the 
same day. It is gratifying to have our desire so promptly 
realized that all exchanges of view on this great matter 
should be made in the hearing of all the world. 

Count Czernin's reply, which is directed chiefly to my io 
own address on the 8th of January, is uttered in a very 
friendly tone. He finds in my statement a sufficiently 
encouraging approach to the views of his own Govern- 
ment to justify him in believing that it furnishes a basis 
for a more detailed discussion of purposes by the two 15 
Governments. He is represented to have intimated that 
the views he was expressing had been communicated to 
me beforehand and that I was aware of them at the time 
he was uttering them ; but in this I am sure he was misun- 
derstood. I had received no intimation of what he in- 20 
tended to .say. There was, of course, no reason why he 
should communicate privately with me. I am quite 
content to be one of his public audience. 

217 



218 WOODROW WILSON 

Count von Hertling's reply is, I must say, very vague 
and very confusing. It is full of equivocal phrases and 
leads it is not clear where. It is certainly in a very differ- 
ent tone from that of Count Czernin and apparently of an 
5 opposite purpose. It confirms, I am sorry to say, rather 
than removes, the unfortunate impression made by what 
we had learned of the conferences at Brest-Litovsk.° 
His discussion and acceptance of our general principles 
lead him to no practical conclusions. He refuses to apply 

i o them to the substantive items which must constitute the 
body of any final settlement. He is jealous of interna- 
tional action and of international counsel. 

He accepts, he says, the principle of public diplomacy, 
but he appears to insist that it be confined, at any rate in 

1 5 this case, to generalities and that the several particular 
questions of territory and sovereignty, the several ques- 
tions upon whose settlement must depend the acceptance 
of peace by the twenty-three states now engaged in the 
war, must be discussed and settled, not in general council, 

2obut severally by the nations most immediately concerned 
by interest or neighborhood. He agrees that the seas 
should be free, but looks askance at any limitation to that 
freedom by international action in the interest of the 
common order. He would without reserve be glad to see 

2 5 economic barriers removed between nation and nation, 
for that could in no way impede the ambitions of the 
military party with whom he seems constrained to keep 
on terms. Neither does he raise objection to a limitation 
of armaments. That matter will be settled of itself, he 

30 thinks, by the economic conditions which must follow 
the war. But the German colonies, he demands, must 
be returned without debate. He will discuss with no one 



PRINCIPLES OF PEACE 219 

but the representatives of Russia what disposition shall 
be made of the peoples and the lands of the Baltic prov- 
inces ; with no one but the Government of France the 
"conditions" under which French territory shall be evacu- 
ated ; and only with Austria what shall be done with 5 
Poland. In the determination of all questions affecting 
the Balkan states he defers, as I understand him, to Austria 
and Turkey; and with regard to the agreements to be 
entered into concerning the non-Turkish peoples of the 
present Ottoman Empire, to the Turkish authorities 10 
themselves. After a settlement all around, effected in - 
this fashion, by individual barter and concession, he would 
have no objection, if I correctly interpret his statement, 
to a league of nations which would undertake to hold the 
new balance of power steady against external disturbance. 15 

It must be evident to every one who understands what 
this war has wrought in the opinion and temper of the 
world that no general peace worth the infinite sacrifices 
of these years of tragical suffering can possibly be arrived 
at in any such fashion. The method the German Chan- 20 
cellor proposes is the method of the Congress of Vienna. 
We cannot and will not return to that. What is at stake 
now is the peace of the world. What we are striving for 
is a new international order based upon broad and universal 
principles of right and justice, — no mere peace of shreds 25 
and patches. Is it possible that Count von Hertling 
does not see that, does not grasp it, is in fact living in his 
thought in a world dead and gone? Has he utterly for- 
gotten the Reichstag resolutions of the 19th of July or 
does he deliberately ignore them? They spoke of the con- 30 
ditions of a general peace, not of national aggrandizement 
or of arrangements between state and state. The peace 



220 WOODROW WILSON 

of the world depends upon the just settlement of each of 
these problems to which I adverted in my recent address 
to the Congress. I, of course, do not mean that the pe.ace 
of the world depends upon the acceptance of any particu- 
5lar set of suggestions as to the way in which those prob- 
lems are to be dealt with. I mean only that those problems 
each and all affect the whole world ; that unless they are 
dealt with in a spirit of unselfish and unbiased justice, 
with a view to the wishes, the natural convictions, the 

10 racial aspirations, the security and peace of mind, of 

• the peoples involved, no permanent peace will have been 
attained. They cannot be discussed separately or in 
corners. None of them constitutes a private or separate 
interest from which the opinion of the world may be shut 

is out. Whatever affects the peace affects mankind, and 
nothing settled by military force, if settled wrong, is settled 
at all. It will presently have to be reopened. 

Is Count von Hertling not aware that he is speaking 
in the court of mankind, that all the awakened nations 

20 of the world now sit in judgment on what every public 
man, of whatever nation, may say on the issues of a con- 
flict which has spread to every region of the world ? The 
Reichstag resolutions of July themselves frankly accepted 
the decisions of that court. There shall be no annexa- 

25tions, no contributions, no punitive damages. Peoples 
are not to be handed about from one sovereignty to 
another by an international conference or an understand- 
ing between rivals and antagonists. National aspirations 
must be respected ; peoples may now be dominated and 

30 governed only by their own consent. 

" Self-determination" is not a mere phrase. It is 
an imperative principle of action, which statesmen will 



PRIXCIPLES OF PEACE 221 

henceforth ignore at their peril. We cannot have general 
peace for the asking, nor by the arrangements of a peace 
conference. It cannot be pieced together out of individual 
understandings between powerful states. All the parties 
to this war must join in the settlement of every issue 5 
anywhere involved in it, because what we are seeking is 
peace that we can all unite to guarantee and maintain, 
and every item of it must be submitted to the common 
judgment whether it be right and fair, an act of justice, 
rather than a bargain between sovereigns. i° 

The United States has no desire to interfere in European 
affairs or to act as arbiter in European territorial disputes. 
She would disdain to take advantage of any internal 
weakness or disorder to impose her own will upon another 
people. She is quite ready to be shown that the settle- 15 
ments she has suggested are for the best or the most en- 
during. They are only her own provisional sketch of 
principles, and of the way in which they should be applied. 
She entered this war because she was made a partner, 
whether she would or not, in the sufferings and indignities 20 
inflicted by the military masters of Germany against 
the peace and security of mankind; and the conditions 
of peace will touch her as nearly as they will touch any 
other nation to which is intrusted a leading part in the 
maintenance of civilization. She cannot see her way to 25 
peace until the causes of this war are removed and its 
renewal rendered as nearly as may be impossible. 

This war had its roots in the disregard of the rights 
of small nations and of nationalities which lacked the 
union and the force to make good their claim to determine 30 
their own allegiances and their own forms of political life. 
Covenants must now be entered into which will render 



222 WOODROW WILSON 

such things impossible for the future ; and those covenants 
must be backed by the united force of all the nations that 
love justice and are willing to maintain it at any cost. 
If territorial settlements and the political relations of great 
s populations which have not the organized power to resist 
are to be determined by the contracts of the powerful 
governments which consider themselves most directly 
affected, as Count vo,n Hertling proposes, why may not 
economic questions also ? It has come about in the altered 

i o world in which we now find ourselves that justice and the 
rights of peoples affect the whole field of international 
dealing as much as access to raw materials and fair and 
equal conditions of trade. 

Count von Hertling wants the essential bases of com- 

ismercial and industrial life to be safeguarded by common 
agreement and guaranty, but he cannot expect that to 
be conceded him if the other matters to be determined by 
the articles of peace are not handled in the same way as 
items in the final accounting. He cannot ask the benefit 

20 of common agreement in the one field without according 
it in the other. I take it for granted that he sees that 
separate and selfish compacts with regard to trade and the 
essential materials of manufacture would afford no founda- 
tion for peace. Neither, he may rest assured, will separate 

25 and selfish compacts with regard to provinces and peoples. 

Count Czernin seems to see the fundamental elements 

of peace with clear eyes and does not seek to obscure them. 

He sees that an independent Poland, made up of all the 

indisputably Polish peoples who lie contiguous to one 

30 another, is a matter of European concern and must, of 
course, be conceded ; that Belgium must be evacuated 
and be restored, no matter what sacrifices and concessions 



PRINCIPLES OF PEACE 223 

that may involve ; and that national aspirations must be 
satisfied, even within his own Empire, in the common 
interest of Europe and mankind. If he is silent about 
questions which touch the interest and purpose of his 
allies more nearly than they touch those of Austria only, 5 
it must, of course, be because he feels constrained, I sup- 
pose, to defer to Germany and Turkey in the circumstances. 
Seeing and conceding, as he does, the essential principles 
involved and the necessity of candidly applying them, 
he naturally feels that Austria can respond to the purpose 10 
of peace as expressed by the United States with less em- 
barrassment than could Germany. He would probably 
have gone much farther had it not been for the embarrass- 
ments of Austria's alliances and of her dependence upon 
Germany. 15 

After all, the test of whether it is possible for either 
Government to go any further in this comparison of 
views is simple and obvious. The principles to be applied 
are these : 

First, that each part of the final settlement must be 20 
based upon the essential justice of that particular case 
and upon such adjustments as are most likely to bring 
a peace that will be permanent ; 

Second, that peoples and provinces are not to be bar- 
, tered about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they 25 
were mere chattels and pawns in a game, even the great 
game, now forever discredited, of the balance of power; 
but that 

Third, every territorial settlement involved in this war 
must be made in the interest and for the benefit of the popu- 30 
lations concerned, and not as a part of any mere adjustment 
or compromise" of claims amongst rival states ; and 



224 WOODROW WILSON 

Fourth, that all well-defined national aspirations shall 
be accorded the utmost satisfaction that can be accorded 
them without introducing new or perpetuating old ele- 
ments of discord and antagonism that would be likely 
5 in time to break the peace of Europe and consequently 
of the world. 

A general peace erected upon such foundations can be 
discussed. Until such a peace can be secured we have no 
choice but to go on. So far as we can judge, these prin- 

iociples that we regard as fundamental are already every- 
where accepted as imperative except among the spokesmen 
of the military and annexationist party in Germany. If 
they have anywhere else been rejected, the objectors have 
not been sufficiently numerous or influential to make their 

15 voices audible. The tragical circumstance is that this 
one party in Germany is apparently willing and able to 
send millions of men to their death to prevent what all 
the world now sees to be just. 

I would not be a true spokesman of the people of the 

20 United States if I did not say once more that we entered 
this war upon no small occasion and that we can never 
turn back from a course chosen upon principle. Our 
resources are in part mobilized now and we shall not pause 
until they are mobilized in their entirety. 

25 Our armies are rapidly going to the fighting front, and 
will go more and more rapidly. Our whole strength will 
be put into this war of emancipation — emancipation from 
the threat and attempted mastery of selfish groups of auto- 
cratic rulers — whatever the difficulties and present par- 

3otial delays. We are indomitable in our power of inde- 
pendent action and can in no circumstances consent to 
live in a world governed by intrigue and force. We be- 



PRINCIPLES OF PEACE 225 

lieve that our own desire for a new international order 
under which reason and justice and the common interests 
of mankind shall prevail is the desire of enlightened men 
everywhere. Without that new order the world will be 
without peace and human life will lack tolerable conditions 5 
of existence and development. Having set our hand to 
the task of achieving it, we shall not turn back. 

I hope that it is not necessary for me to add that no word 
of what I have said is intended as a threat. That is not 
the temper of our people. I have spoken thus only that 10 
the whole world may know the true spirit of America — 
that men everywhere may know that our passion for jus- 
tice and for self-government is no mere passion of words 
but a passion which, once set in action, must be satisfied. 
The power of the United States is a menace to no nation 15 
or people. It will never be used in aggression or for the 
aggrandizement of any selfish interest of our own. It 
springs out of freedom and is for the service of freedom. 



WOODROW WILSON 
31. THE CHALLENGE OF FORCE 

Address at Baltimore, April 6, 1918 

Fellow Citizens : 

This is the anniversary of our acceptance of Germany's 
challenge to fight for our right to live and be free, and for 
the sacred rights of free men everywhere. The Nation is 
5 awake. There is no need to call to it. We know what 
the war must cost, our utmost sacrifice, the lives of our 
fittest men and, if need be, all that we possess. The loan 
we are met to discuss is one of the least parts of what we 
are called upon to give and to do, though in itself im- 

i operative. The people of the whole country are alive to 
the necessity of it, and are ready to lend to the utmost, 
even where it involves a sharp skimping and daily sacrifice 
to lend out of meager earnings. They will look with 
reprobation and contempt upon those who can and will 

1 5 not, upon those who demand a high rate of interest, upon 
those who think of it as a mere commercial transaction. 
I have not come, therefore, to urge the loan. I have 
come only to give you, if I can, a more vivid conception 
of what it is for. 

20 The reasons for this great war, the reason why it had 
to come, the need to fight it through, and the issues that 
hang upon its outcome, are more clearly disclosed now 
than ever before. It is easy to see just what this particular 

226 



THE CHALLENGE OF FORCE 227 

loan means because the cause we are fighting for stands 
more sharply revealed than at any previous crisis of the 
momentous struggle. The man who knows the least can 
now see plainly how the cause of justice stands and 
what the imperishable thing is he is asked to invest in. 5 
Men in America may be more sure than they ever were 
before that the cause is their own and that, if it should be 
lost, their own great Nation's place and mission in the 
world would be lost with it. 

I call you to witness, my fellow countrymen, that at no 10 
stage of this terrible business have I judged the purposes 
of Germany intemperately. I should be ashamed in the 
presence of affairs so grave, so fraught with the destinies 
of mankind throughout all the world, to speak with 
truculence, to use the weak language of hatred or vindictive 15 
purposes. We must judge as we would be judged. I have 
sought to learn the objects Germany has in this war from 
the mouths of her own spokesmen, and to deal as frankly 
with them as I wished them to deal with me. I have laid 
bare our own ideals, our own purposes, without reserve 20 
or doubtful phrase, and have asked them to say as plainly 
what it is that they seek. 

We have ourselves proposed no injustice, no aggression. 
We are ready whenever the final reckoning is made to be 
just to the German people, deal fairly with the German 25 
power, as with all others. There can be no difference 
between peoples in the final judgment, if it is indeed 
to be a righteous judgment. To propose anything but 
justice, evenhanded and dispassionate justice, to Germany 
at any time, whatever the outcome of the war, would be 30 
to renounce and dishonor our own cause. For we ask 
nothing that we are not willing to accord. 



228 WOODROW WILSON 

It has been with this thought that I have sought to 
learn from those who spoke for Germany whether it was 
justice or dominion and the execution of their own will 
upon the other nations of the world that the German 
5 leaders were seeking. They have answered, answered in 
unmistakable terms. They have avowed that it was not 
justice but dominion and the unhindered execution of their 
own will. 

The avowal has not come from Germany's statesmen. 

iolt has come from her military leaders, who are her real 
rulers. Her statesmen have said that they wished peace, 
and were ready to discuss its terms whenever their oppo- 
nents were willing to sit down at the conference table 
with them. Her present Chancellor has said- — in indefi- 

1 5 nite and uncertain terms, indeed, and in phrases that often 
seem to deny their own meaning, but with as much plain- 
ness as he thought prudent — that he believed that peace 
should be based upon the principles which we had declared 
would be our own in the final settlement. At Brest- 

20 Litovsk her civilian delegates spoke in similar terms; 
professed their desire to conclude a fair peace and accord 
to the peoples with whose fortunes they were dealing the 
right to choose their own allegiances. But action accom- 
panied and followed the profession. Their military 

25 masters, the men who act for Germany and exhibit her 
purpose in execution, proclaimed a very different con- 
clusion. We cannot mistake what they have done — in 
Russia, in Finland, in the Ukraine, in Rumania. The 
real test of their justice and fair play has come. From 

3 o this we may judge the rest. They are enjoying in Russia 
a cheap triumph in which no brave or gallant nation can 
long take pride. A great people, helpless by their own 



THE CHALLENGE OF FORCE 229 

act, lies for the time at their mercy. Their fair pro- 
fessions are forgotten. They nowhere set up justice, but 
everywhere impose their power and exploit everything 
for their own use and aggrandizement ; and the peoples of 
conquered provinces are invited to be free under their 5 
dominion ! 

Are we not justified in believing that they would do 
the same things at their western front if they were not 
there face to face with armies whom even their countless 
divisions cannot overcome? If, when they have felt 10 
their check to be final they should propose favorable and 
equitable terms with regard to Belgium and France and 
Italy, could they blame us if we concluded that they did 
so only to assure themselves of a free hand in Russia 
and the East? 15 

Their purpose is undoubtedly to make all the Slavic 
peoples, all the free and ambitious nations of the Baltic 
peninsula, all the lands that Turkey has dominated and 
misruled, subject to their will and ambition and build 
upon that dominion an empire of force upon which they 20 
fancy that they can then erect an empire of gain and com- 
mercial supremacy — an empire as hostile to the Americas 
as to the Europe which it will overawe — an empire which 
will ultimately master Persia, India and the peoples of 
the Far East. In such a program our ideals, the ideals of 25 
justice and humanity and liberty, the principle of the free 
self-determination of nations upon which all the modern 
world insists, can play no part. They are rejected for the 
ideals of power, for the principle that the strong must rule 
the weak, that trade must follow the flag, whether those 30 
to whom it is taken welcome it or not, that the peoples of 
the world are to be made subject to the patronage and 
overlordship of those who have the power to enforce it. 



230 WOODROW WILSON 

That program once carried out, America and all who 
care or dare to stand with her must arm and prepare 
themselves to contest the mastery of the World, a mastery 
in which the rights of common men, the rights of women 

5 and of all who are weak, must for the time being be trodden 
under foot and disregarded, and the old, age-long struggle 
for freedom and right begin again at its beginning. Every- 
thing that America has lived for and loved and grown 
great to vindicate and bring to a glorious realization will 

i o have fallen in utter ruin and the gates of mercy once more 
pitilessly shut upon mankind. 

The thing is preposterous and impossible; and yet is 
not that what the whole course and action of the German 
armies has meant wherever they have moved? I do not 

15 wish, even in this moment of utter disillusionment, to 
judge harshly or unrighteously. I judge only what the 
German arms have accomplished with unpitying thorough- 
ness throughout every fair region they have touched. 
What, then, are we to do? For myself, I am ready, 

20 ready still, ready even now, to discuss a fair and just 
and honest peace at any time that it is sincerely purposed 
— a peace in which the strong and the weak shall fare 
alike. But the answer, when I proposed such a peace, 
came from the German commanders in Russia, and I 

25 cannot mistake the meaning of the answer. 

I accept the challenge. I know that you accept it. 
All the world shall know that you accept it. It shall 
appear in the utter sacrifice and self-forgetfulness with 
which we shall give ail that we love and all that we have 

.30 to redeem the world and make it fit for free men like 
ourselves to live in. This now is the meaning of all that 
we do. Let everything that we say, my fellow-country- 



THE CHALLENGE OF FORCE 231 

men, everything that we henceforth plan and accomplish 
ring true to this response till the majesty and might of 
our concerted power shall fill the thought and utterly 
defeat the force of those who flout and misprize what we 
honor and hold dear. Germany has once more said that 5 
force, and force alone, shall decide whether Justice and 
Peace shall reign in the affairs of men, whether Right as 
America conceives it or Dominion as she conceives it 
shall determine the destinies of mankind. There is, 
therefore, but one response possible from us : Force, ic 
Force to the utmost, Force without stint or limit, the 
righteous and triumphant Force which shall make Right 
the law of the world, and cast every selfish dominion 
down in the dust. 



WOODROW WILSON 

32. STANDING TOGETHER FOR DEMOCRACY 

Address to American Federation of Labor Conven- 
tion, Buffalo, New York, November 12, 1917 

I esteem it a great privilege and a real honor to be 
thus admitted to your public counsels. When your 
executive committee paid me the compliment of in- 
viting me here, I gladly accepted the invitation because 

5 it seems to me that this, above all other times in our 
history, is the time for common counsel, for the drawing 
together not only of the energies but of the minds of the 
nation. I thought that this was a welcome opportunity 
for disclosing to you some of the thoughts that have been 

io gathering in my mind during the last momentous months. 

I am introduced to you as the President of the United 

States, and yet I would be pleased if you would put the 

thought of office into the background and regard me as 

one of your fellow citizens who has come here to speak, 

15 not the words of authority, but the words of counsel ; the 
words which men should speak to one another who wish 
to be frank in a moment more critical perhaps than the 
history of the world has ever yet known ; a moment when 
it is every man's duty to forget himself, to forget his own 

20 interests, to fill himself with the nobility of a great national 
and world conception, and act upon a new platform ele- 
vated above the ordinary affalis of life and lifted to where 

232 



STAXDIXG TOGETHER FOR DEMOCRACY 233 

men have news of the long destiny of mankind. I think 
that in order to realize just what this moment of counsel 
is. it is very desirable that we should remind ourselves 
just how this war came about and just what it is for. 
You can explain most wars very simply, but the explan- 5 
ation of this is not so simple. Its roots run deep into all 
the obscure soils of history, and in my view this is the last 
decisive issue between the old principles of power and the 
new principles of freedom. . 

The war was started by Germany. Her authorities 10 
deny that they started it. but I am willing to let the 
statement I have just made await the verdict of history. 
And the thing that needs to be explained is why Ger- 
many started the war. Remember what the position of 
Germany in the world was — as enviable a position as 15 
any nation has ever occupied. The whole world stood 
at admiration of her wonderful intellectual and material 
achievements. All the intellectual men of the world 
went to school to her. As a university man, I have been 
surrounded by men trained in Germany, men who had 20 
resorted to Germany because nowhere else could they get 
such thorough and searching training, particularly in the 
principles of science and the principles that underlie 
modern material achievement. Her men of science had 
made her industries perhaps the most competent industries 2s 
of the world, and the label "Made in Germany" was a 
guarantee of good workmanship and of sound material. 
She had access to all the markets of the world, and every 
other who traded in those markets feared Germany be- 
cause of her effective and almost irresistible competition. 30 
She had a "place in the sun." 

Whv was she not satisfied? What more did she want? 



234 WOODROW WILSON 

There was nothing in the world of peace that she did not 
already have and have in abundance. We boast of the 
extraordinary pace of American advancement. We show 
with pride the statistics of the increase of our industries 
sand the population of our cities. Well, those statistics 
did not match the recent statistics of Germany. Her old 
cities took on youth, grew faster than any American cities 
ever grew. Her old industries opened their eyes and 
saw a new world and went out for its conquest. And 

ioyet the authorities of Germany were not satisfied. You 
have one part of the answer to the question why she was 
not satisfied in her methods of competition. There is 
no important industry in Germany upon which the Gov- 
ernment has not laid its hands, to direct it and, when 

1 5 necessity arose, control it; and you have only to ask 
any man whom you meet who is familiar with the con- 
ditions that prevailed before the war in the matter of 
national competition to find out the methods of competi- 
tion which the German manufacturers and exporters used 

20 under the patronage and support of the Government of 
Germany. You will find that they were the same sorts 
of competition that we have tried to prevent by law within 
our own borders. If they could not sell their goods 
cheaper than we could sell ours at a profit to themselves, 

25 they could get a subsidy from the Government which 
made it possible to sell them cheaper anyhow, and the 
conditions of competition were thus controlled in large 
measure by the German Government itself. 

But that did not satisfy the German Government. 

30 All the while there was lying behind its thought in its 
dreams of the future a political control which would 
enable it in the long run to dominate the labor and the 



STANDING TOGETHER FOR DEMOCRACY 235 

industry of the world. They were not content with suc- 
cess by superior achievement; they wanted success by 
authority. I suppose very few of you have thought much 
about the Berlin-to-Bagdad Railway. The Berlin-to- 
Bagdad Railway was constructed in order to run the s 
threat of force down the flank of the industrial under- 
takings of half a dozen other countries; so that when 
German competition came in, it would not be resisted too 
far, because there was always the possibility of getting 
German armies into the heart of that country quicker 10 
than any other armies could be got there. 

Look at the map of Europe now ! Germany is thrust- 
ing upon us again and again the discussion of peace. 
And she talks about what ? Talks about Belgium ; talks 
about northern France; talks about Alsace-Lorraine. 15 
Well, those are deeply interesting subjects to us and to 
them, but they are not talking about the heart of the 
matter. Take the map and look at it. Germany has 
absolute control of Austria-Hungary, practical control of 
the Balkan states, control of Turkey, control of Asia 20 
Minor. I saw a map in which the whole thing was printed 
in appropriate black the other day, and the black stretched 
all the way from Hamburg to Bagdad — the bulk of 
German power inserted into the heart of the world. If 
she can keep that, she has kept all that her dreams con- 25 
templated when the war began. If she can keep that, 
her power can disturb the world as long as she keeps it, 
always provided, for I feel bound to put this proviso in, 
always provided the present influences that control the 
German Government continue to control it. I believe 30 
that the spirit of freedom can get into the hearts of Ger- 
mans and find as fine a welcome there as it can find in 



236 WOODROW WILSON 

any other hearts, but the spirit of freedom does not suit 
the plans of the Pan-Germans. ° Power cannot be used 
with concentrated force against free peoples if it is used by 
free people. 
5 You know how many intimations come to us from one 
of the Central Powers that it is more anxious for peace 
than the chief Central Power, and you know that it 
means that the people of that Central Power know that 
if the war ends as it stands, they will in effect themselves 

iobe vassals of Germany, notwithstanding that their popu- 
lations are compounded of all the peoples of that part of 
the world, and notwithstanding the fact that they do 
not wish in their pride and proper spirit of nationality to 
be so absorbed and dominated. Germany is determined 

15 that the political power of the world shall belong to her. 
There have been such ambitions before. They have 
been in part realized, but never before have those am- 
bitions been based upon so exact and precise and scientific 
a plan of domination. 

20 May I not say that it is amazing to me that any group 
of persons should be so ill-informed as to suppose, as some 
groups in Russia apparently suppose, that any reforms 
planned in the interest of the people can live in the presence 
of a Germany powerful enough to undermine or overthrow 

2 5 them by intrigue or force? Any body of free men that 
compounds with the present German Government is com- 
pounding for its own destruction. But that is not the 
whole of the stoiy. Any man in America, or anywhere 
else, who supposes that the free industry and enterprise 

30 of the world can continue if the Pan-German plan is 
achieved and German power fastened upon the world, 
is as fatuous as the dreamers in Russia. What I am op- 



STANDING TOGETHER FOR DEMOCRACY 237 

posed to is not the feeling of the pacifists but their stu- 
pidity. My heart is with them, but my mind has a 
contempt for them. I want peace, but I know how to 
get it, and they do not. 

You will notice that I sent a friend of mine, Colonel 5 
House, to Europe, who is as great a lover of peace as 
any man in the world, but I did not send him on a peace 
mission. I sent him to take part in a conference as to 
how the war was to be won. And he knows, as I know, 
that that is the way to get peace if you want it for more 10 
than a few minutes. 

All of this is a preface to the conference that I have 
referred to with regard to what we are going to do. If 
we are true friends of freedom — our own or anybody 
else's — we will see that the power of this country, the 15 
productivity of this country, is raised to its absolute 
maximum, and that absolutely nobody is allowed to 
stand in the way of it. When I say that nobody is al- 
lowed to stand in the way, I do not mean that they shall 
be prevented by the power of the Government but by 20 
the power of the American spirit. Our duty, if we are 
to do this great thing and show America to be what we 
believe her to be — the greatest hope and energy of the 
world — is to stand together night and day until the 
job is finished. 25 

While we are fighting for freedom we must see, among 
other things, that labor is free; and that means a num- 
ber of interesting things. It means not only that we 
must do what we have declared our purpose to do, see that 
the conditions of labor are not rendered more onerous by 30 
the war, but also that we shall see to it that the instrumen- 
talities by which the conditions of labor are improved 



238 WOODROW WILSON 

are not blocked or checked. That we must do. That 
has been the matter about which I have taken pleasure 
in conferring from time to time with your president, Mr. 
Gompers, and if I may be permitted to do so, I want to 
5 express my admiration of his patriotic courage, his large 
vision, and his statesmanlike sense of what has to be done. 
I like to lay my mind alongside of a mind that knows how 
to pull in harness. The horses that kick over the traces 
will have to be put in corral. 

10 Now, to stand together means that nobody must in- 
terrupt the processes of our energy, if the interruption 
can possibly be avoided without the absolute invasion 
of freedom. To put it concretely, that means this : No- 
body has a right to stop the processes of labor until all 

1 5 the methods of conciliation and settlement have been 
exhausted. And I might as well say right here that I 
am not talking to you alone. You sometimes stop the 
courses of labor, but there are others who do the same, 
and I believe I am speaking from my own experience 

2onot only, but from the experience of others, when I say 
that you are reasonable in a larger number of cases than 
the capitalists. I am not saying these things to them 
personally yet, because I have not had a chance; but 
they have to be said, not in any spirit of criticism, but in 

25 order to clear the atmosphere and come down to business. 
Everybody on both sides has now got to transact business, 
and a settlement is never impossible when both sides 
want to do the square and right thing. 

Moreover a settlement is hard to avoid when the par- 

30 ties can be brought face to face. I can differ from a man 
much more radically when he is not in the room than I 
can when he is in the room because then the awkward thing 



STANDING TOGETHER FOR DEMOCRACY 239 

is, he can come back at me and answer what I say. It is 
always dangerous for a man to have the floor entirely 
to himself. Therefore we must insist in every instance 
that the parties come into each other's presence and 
there discuss the issues between them and not separately 5 
in places which have no communication with each other. 
I always like to remind myself of a delightful saying of 
an Englishman of the past generation, Charles Lamb. 
He stuttered a bit, and once when he was with a group 
of friends he spoke very harshly of some man who was 10 
not present. One of the friends said, "Why, Charles, I 
didn't know that you knew So-and-so." "O-o-oh," he 
said, "I-I d-d-don't; I-I can't h-h-hate a m-m-man I-I 
know." There is a great deal of human nature, of very 
pleasing human nature, in the saying. It is hard to hate 15 
a man you know. I may admit, parenthetically, that 
there are some politicians whose methods I do not at all 
believe in, but they are jolly good fellows, and if they 
only would not talk the wrong kind of politics with me, 
I should love to be with them. 20 

So it is all along the line, in serious matters and things 
less serious. We are all of the same clay and spirit and 
we can get together if we desire to get together. There- 
fore, my counsel to you is this : Let us show ourselves 
Americans by showing that we do not want to go off in 25 
separate camps or groups by ourselves, but that we want 
to cooperate with all other classes and all other groups 
in the common enterprise which is to release the spirits 
of the world from bondage. I would be willing to set that 
up as the final test of an American. That is the meaning 30 
of democracy. I have been very much distressed, my 
fellow citizens, by some of the things that have hap- 



240 WOODROW WILSON 

pened recently. The mob spirit is displaying itself here 
and there in this country. I have no sympathy with 
what some men are saying, but I have no sympathy 
with the men who take their punishment into their own 
5 hands; and I want to say to every man who does join 
such a mob that I do not recognize him as worthy of the 
free institutions of the United States. There are some 
organizations in this country whose object is anarchy 
and the destruction of law, but I would not meet their 

10 efforts by making myself a partner in destroying the law. 
I despise and hate their purposes as much as any man, 
but I would respect the ancient processes of justice ; and 
I would be too proud not to see them done justice, how- 
ever wrong they are. I am hopeful that some such 

1 5 instrumentalities may be devised, but whether they are 
or not, we must use those that we have, and upon every 
occasion where it is necessary, have such an instrumental- 
ity originated upon that occasion. 

So, my fellow citizens, the reason I came away from 

2 o Washington is that I sometimes get lonely down there. 
There are so many people in Washington who know 
things that are not so, and there are so few people who know 
anything about what the people of the United States are 
thinking about. I have to come away and get reminded 

2 5 of the rest of the country. I have to come away and 
talk to men who are up against the real thing and say to 
them, "I am with you if you are with me." And the 
only test of being with me is not to think about me per- 
sonally at all, but merely to think of me as the expression 

30 for the time being of the power and dignity and hope of 
the United States. 



WOODROW WILSON 
33. GREETING TO FRANCE 
On Bastile Day, July 14, 1918 

America greets France on this day of stirring memories 
with a heart full of warm friendship, and of devotion to 
the great cause in which the two peoples are now so happily 
united. July 14th, like our own July 4th, has taken on a 
new significance, not only for France but for the world. 5 
As France celebrated our Fourth of July, so do we cele- 
brate her Fourteenth, keenly conscious of a comradeship 
of arms and of purpose of which we are deeply proud. 

The sea seems very narrow today, France is so neighbor 
to our hearts. The war is being fought to save ourselves 10 
from intolerable things, but it is also being fought to save 
mankind. We extend our hands to each other, to the 
great peoples with whom we are associated, and to the 
peoples everywhere who love right and prize justice as a 
thing beyond price, and consecrate ourselves once more 15 
to the noble enterprise of peace and justice, realizing the 
great conceptions that have lifted France and America 
high among the free peoples of the world. 

The French flag floats today from the staff of the 
White House, and America is happy to do honor to that 20 
flag. 

r 241 



WOODROW WILSON 

34. THERE CAN BE NO HALFWAY PEACE 

Independence Day Address at Mount Vernon, 
July 4, 1918 

Gentlemen of the Diplomatic Corps and My 
Fellow Citizens : I am happy to draw apart with you 
to this quiet place of old counsel in order to speak a little 
of the meaning of this day of our nation's independence. 
5 The place seems very still and remote. It is as serene and 
untouched by the hurry of the world as it was in those 
great days long ago when General Washington was here 
and held leisurely conference with the men who were to 
be associated with him in the creation of a nation. From 

io these gentle slopes they looked out upon the world and 
saw it whole, saw it with the light of the future upon it, 
saw it with modern eyes that turned away from a past 
which men of liberated spirits could no longer endure. It 
is for that reason that we cannot feel, even here, in the 

15 immediate presence of this sacred tomb, that this is a place 
of death. It was a place of achievement. A great promise 
that was meant for all mankind was here given plan and 
reality. The associations by which we are here surrounded 
are the inspiriting associations of that noble death which 

20 is only a glorious consummation. From this green hillside 
we also ought to be able to see with comprehending eyes 

242 



NO HALFWAY PEACE 243 

the world that lies around us and conceive anew the pur- 
pose that must set men free. 

It is significant — significant of their own character and 
purpose and of the influences they were setting afoot — 
that Washington and his associates, like the Barons at 5 
Runnymede, spoke and acted, not for a class, but for a 
people. It has been left for us to see to it that it shall be 
understood that they spoke and acted, not for a single 
people only, but for all mankind. They were thinking 
not of themselves and of the material interests which 10 
centered in the little groups of landholders and merchants 
and men of affairs with whom they were accustomed to 
act, in Virginia and the colonies to the north and south 
of her, but of a people which wished to be done with classes 
and special interests and the authority of men whom they 15 
had not themselves chosen to rule over them. They 
entertained no private purpose, desired no peculiar privi- 
lege. They were consciously planning that men of every 
class should be free and America a place to which men out 
of every nation might resort who wished to share with 20 
them the rights and privileges of free men. And we take 
our cue from them — do we not ? We intend what they 
intended. We here in America believe our participation 
in this present war to be only the fruitage of what they 
planted. Our case differs from theirs only in this, that 25 
it is our inestimable privilege to concert with men out of 
every nation who shall make not only the liberties of 
America secure but the liberties of every other people as 
well. We are happy in the thought that we are permitted 
to do what they would have done had they been in our 30 
place. There must now be settled, once for all, what was 
settled for America in the great age upon whose inspiration 



244 WOODROW WILSON 

we draw today. This is surely a fitting place from which 
calmly to look out upon our task, that we may fortify our 
spirits for its accomplishment. And this is the appropriate 
place from which to avow, alike to the friends who look on 
sand to the friends with whom we have the happiness to 
be associated in action, the faith and purpose with which 
we act. 

This, then, is our conception of the great struggle in 
which we are engaged. The plot is written plain upon 

10 every scene and every act of the supreme tragedy. On the 
one hand stand the peoples of the world — not only the 
peoples actually engaged, but many others, also, who 
suffer under mastery but cannot act; peoples of many 
races and in every part of the world — the people of 

1 5 stricken Russia still, among the rest, though they are for 
the moment unorganized and helpless. Opposed to them, 
masters of many armies, stand an isolated, friendless group 
of Governments, who speak no common purpose, but 
only selfish ambitions of their own, by which none can 

20 profit but themselves, and whose peoples are fuel in their 
hands; Governments which fear their people, and yet 
are for the time being sovereign lords, making every 
choice for them and disposing of their lives and fortunes 
as they will, as well as of the lives and fortunes of every 

25 people who fall under their power — Governments clothed 
with the strange trappings and the primitive authority of 
an age that is altogether alien and hostile to our own. The 
Past and the Present are in deadly grapple, and the peoples 
of the world are being done to death between them. 

30 There can be but one issue. The settlement must be 
final. There can be no compromise. No halfway de- 
cision would be tolerable. No halfway decision is con- 



NO HALFWAY PEACE 245 

ceivable. These are the ends for which the associated 
peoples of the world are fighting and which must be con- 
ceded them before there can be peace : 

I. — The destruction of every arbitrary power anywhere 
that can separately, secretly, and of its single choice dis- 5 
turb the peace of the world ; or, if it cannot be presently 
destroyed, at the least its reduction to virtual impotence. 

II. — The settlement of every question, whether of 
territory, of sovereignty, of economic arrangement, or of 
political relationship, upon the basis of the free acceptance 10 
of that settlement by the people immediately concerned, 
and not upon the basis of the material interest or advan- 
tage of any other nation or people which may desire a 
different settlement for the sake of its own exterior in- 
fluence or mastery. 15 

III. — The consent of all nations to be governed in their 
conduct toward each other by the same principles of honor 
and of respect for the common law of civilized society that 
govern the individual citizens 4 of all modern States in 
their relations with one another ; to the end that all 20 
promises and covenants may be sacredly observed, no 
private plots or conspiracies hatched, no selfish injuries 
wrought with impunity, and a mutual trust established upon 
the handsome foundation of a mutual respect for right. 

IV. — The establishment of an organization of peace 25 
which shall make it certain that the combined power of 
free nations will check every invasion of right and serve 
to make peace and justice the more secure by affording 

a definite tribunal of opinion to which all must submit 
and by which every international readjustment that can- 30 
not be amicably agreed upon by the peoples directly con- 
cerned shall be sanctioned. 



246 WOODROW WILSON 

These great objects can be put into a single sentence. 
What we seek is the reign of law, based upon the consent 
of the governed and sustained by the organized opinion 
of mankind. 
5 These great ends cannot be achieved by debating and 
seeking to reconcile and accommodate what statesmen 
may wish with their projects for balances of power and 
of national opportunity. They can be realized only by 
the determination of what the thinking peoples of the 

10 world desire, with their longing hope for justice and for 
social freedom and opportunity. 

I can fancy that the air of this place carries the accents 
of such principles with a peculiar kindness. Here were 
started forces which the great nation against which they 

is were primarily directed at first regarded as a revolt against 
its rightful authority, but which it has long since seen to 
have been a step in the liberation of its own people as 
well as of the people of the United States ; and I stand 
here now to speak — speak proudly and with confident 

20 hope — of the spread of this revolt, this liberation, to the 
great stage of the world itself! The blinded rulers of 
Prussia have roused forces they knew little of — forces 
which, once roused, can never be crushed to earth again ; 
for they have at their heart an inspiration and a purpose 

25 which are deathless and of the very stuff of triumph ! 



WOODROW WILSON 

35. OUR PEACE PROGRAM 

Address at the Metropolitan Opera House, New 
York City, September 27, 1918 

My Fellow Citizens : I am not here to promote the 
loan. That will be done — ably and enthusiastically 
done — by the hundreds of thousands of loyal and tire- 
less men and women who have undertaken to present it 
to you and to our fellow citizens throughout the country ; 5 
and I have not the least doubt of their complete success ; 
for I know their spirit and the spirit of the country. My 
confidence is confirmed, too, by the thoughtful and 
experienced cooperation of the bankers here and every- 
where, who are lending their invaluable aid and guidance. IO 
I have come, rather, to seek an opportunity to present 
to you some thoughts which I trust will serve to give 
you, in perhaps fuller measure than before, a vivid sense 
of the great issues involved, in order that you may appre- 
ciate and accept with added enthusiasm the grave sig- i 5 
nificance of the duty of supporting the Government b}' 
your men and your means to the utmost point of sacrifice 
and self-denial. Xo man or woman who has really 
taken in what this war means can hesitate to give to the 
very limit of what they have ; and it is my mission 2 o 
here to-night to try to make it clear once more what the 

247 



248 WOOD ROW WILSON 

war really means. You will need no further stimulation 
or reminder of your duty. 

At every turn of the war we gain a fresh consciousness 
of what we mean to accomplish by it. When our hope and 
5 expectation are most excited we think more definitely than 
before of the issues that hang upon it and of the purposes 
which must be realized by means of it. For it has positive 
and well-defined purposes which we did not determine and 
which we cannot alter. No statesman or assembly created 

iothem; no statesman or assembly can alter them. They 
have arisen out of the very nature and circumstances 
of the war. The most that statesmen or assemblies can 
do is to carry them out or be false to them. They 
were perhaps not clear at the outset; but they are clear 

1 5 now. 

The war has lasted more than four years and the whole 
world has been drawn into it. The common will of man- 
kind has been substituted for the particular purposes of 
individual states. Individual statesmen may have started 

2othe conflict, but neither they nor their opponents can stop 
it as they please. It has become a people's war, and 
peoples of all sorts and races, of every degree of power 
and variety of fortune are involved in its sweeping pro- 
cesses of change and settlement. We came into it° when 

25 its character had become fully defined and it was plain 
that no nation could stand apart or be indifferent to its 
outcome. Its challenge drove to the heart of everything 
we cared for and lived for. The voice of the war had 
become clear and gripped our hearts. Our brothers from 

30 many lands, as well as our own murdered dead under the 
sea, were calling to us, and we responded, fiercely and of 
course. 



OUR PEACE PROGRAM 249 

The air was clear about us. We saw things in their 
full, convincing proportions as they were; and we have 
seen them with steady eyes and unchanging comprehension 
ever since. We accepted the issues of the war as facts, 
not as any group of men either here or elsewhere had de- 5 
fined them, and we can accept no outcome which does not 
squarely meet and settle them. Those issues are these : 

Shall the military power of any nation or group of 
nations be suffered to determine the fortunes of peoples 
over whom they have no right to rule except the right of 10 
force? 

Shall strong nations be free to wrong weak nations and 
make them subject to their purpose and interest? 

Shall peoples be ruled and dominated, even in their 
own internal affairs, by arbitrary and irresponsible force 15 
or by their own will and choice? 

Shall there be a common standard of right and privilege 
for all peoples and nations or shall the strong do as they 
will and the weak sutler without redress? 

Shall the assertion of right be haphazard and by casual 20 
alliance or shall there be a common concert to oblige the 
observance of common rights? 

Xo man, no group of men, chose these to be the issues 
of the struggle. They are the issues of it ; and they must 
be settled — by no arrangement or compromise or adjust- 25 
ment of interests, but definitely#and once for all, and with 
a full and unequivocal acceptance of the principle that the 
interest of the weakest is as sacred as the interest of the 
strongest. 

This is what we mean when we speak of a permanent 30 
peace, if we speak sincerely, intelligently and with a real 
knowledge and comprehension of the matter we deal with. 



250 WOOBROW WILSON 

We are all agreed that there can be no peace obtained 
by any kind of bargain or compromise with the govern- 
ments of the Central Empires, because we have dealt 
with them already and have seen them deal with other 
5 governments that were parties to this struggle, at Brest- 
Litovsk and Bucharest. They have convinced us that 
they are without honor and do not intend justice. They 
observe no covenants, accept no principle but force and 
their own interest. We cannot "come to terms" with 

iothem. They have made it impossible. The German 
people must by this time be fully aware that we cannot 
accept the word of those who forced this war upon us. 
We do not think the same thoughts or speak the same 
language of agreement. 

15 It is of capital importance that we should also be 
explicitly agreed that no peace shall be obtained by any 
kind of compromise or abatement of the principles we have 
avowed as the principles for which we are fighting. There 
should exist no doubt about that, . I am, therefore, going 

20 to take the liberty of speaking with the utmost frankness 
about the practical implications that are involved in it. 

If it be in deed and in truth the common object of the 
governments associated against Germany and of the 
nations whom they govern, as I believe it to be, to achieve 

25 by the coming settlements a secure and lasting peace, it 
will be necessary that all who sit down at the peace table 
should come ready and willing to pay the price, the only 
price, that will procure it; and ready and willing, also, 
to create in some virile fashion the only instrumentality 

30 by which it can be made certain that the agreements of 
the peace will be honored and fulfilled. 

That price is impartial justice in every item of the 



OUR PEACE PROGRAM 251 

settlement, no matter whose interest is crossed; and not 
only impartial justice, but also the satisfaction of the 
several peoples whose fortunes are dealt with. That in- 
dispensable instrumentality is a League of Nations formed 
under covenants that wdll be efficacious. Without such 5 
an instrumentality, by which the peace of the world can 
be guaranteed, peace will rest in part upon the word of 
outlaws and only upon that word. For Germany will 
have to redeem her character not by what happens at 
the peace table, but by what follows. 10 

And, as I see it, the constitution of that League of 
Nations and the clear definition of its objects must be a 
part, is in a sense the most essential part, of the peace 
settlement itself. It cannot be formed now. If formed 
now it would be merety a new alliance confined to the 15 
nations associated against a common enemy. It is not 
likely that it could be formed after the settlement. It 
is necessary to guarantee the peace ; and the peace cannot 
be guaranteed as an afterthought. The reason, to speak 
in plain terms again, why it must be guaranteed is that 20 
there will be parties to the peace whose promises have 
proved untrustworthy, and means must be found in 
connection with the peace settlement itself to remove 
that source of insecurity. It would be folly to leave the 
guarantee to the subsequent voluntary action of the 25 
governments we have seen destroy Russia and deceive 
Rumania. 

But the general terms do not disclose the whole matter. 
Some details are needed to make them sound less like a 
thesis and more like a practical program. These, then, 30 
are some of the particulars, and I state them with the 
greater confidence because I can state them authoritatively 



252 WOODROW WILSON 

as representing this government's interpretation of its 
own duty with regard to peace : 

First, the impartial justice meted out must involve no 

discrimination between those to whom we wish to be just 

5 and those to whom we do not wish to be just. It must 

be justice that plays no favorites and knows no standard 

but the equal rights of the several peoples concerned. 

Second, no special or separate interest of any single 
nation or any group of nations can be made the basis of 
10 any part of the settlement which is not consistent with the 
common interest of all. 

Third, there can be no leagues or alliances or special 
covenants and understandings within the general and 
common family of the league of nations. 
15 Fourth, and more specifically, there can be no special, 
selfish economic combinations within the league and no 
employment of any form of economic boycott or exclusion 
except as the power of economic penalty by exclusion 
from the markets of the world may be vested in the league 
20 of nations itself as a means of discipline and control. 

Fifth, all international agreements and treaties of 
every kind must be made known in their entirety to the 
rest of the world. 

Special alliances and economic rivalries and hostilities 

25 have been the prolific source in the modern world of the 

plans and passions that produce war. It would be an 

insincere as well as an insecure peace that did not exclude 

them in definite and binding terms. 

The confidence with which I venture to speak for our 

30 people in these matters does not spring from our traditions 

merely and the well-known principles of international ac- 

t:xi which we have always professed and followed. In the 



OUR PEACE PROGRAM 253 

same sentence in which I say that the United States will 
enter into no special arrangements or understandings 
with particular nations let me say also that the United 
States is prepared to assume its full share of responsibility 
for the maintenance of the common covenants and under- s 
standings upon which peace must henceforth rest. We 
still read Washington's immortal warning- against "en- 
tangling alliances" with full comprehension and an 
answering purpose. But only special and limited alliances 
entangle; and w T e recognize and accept the duty of a 10 
new day in which we are permitted to hope for a general 
alliance which will avoid entanglements and clear the air 
of the world for common understandings and maintenance 
of common rights. 

I have made this analysis of the international situation 15 
w T hich the war has created not, of course, because I 
doubted whether the leaders of the great nations and 
peoples with whom we are associated were of the same 
mind and entertained a like purpose, but because the air 
every now and again gets darkened by mists and ground- 20 
less doubt ings and mischievous perversions of counsel, 
and it is necessary once and again to sweep all the irre- 
sponsible talk about peace intrigues and weakening 
morale and doubtful purpose on the part of those in 
authority utterly, and if need be unceremoniously, aside 25 
and say things in the plainest words that can be found, 
even when it is only to say over again what has been said 
before quite as plainly if in less unvarnished terms. 

As I have said, neither I nor any other man in govern- 
mental authority created or gave form to the issues of this 30 
war. I have simply responded to them with such vision as 
I could command. But I have responded gladly and with 



254 WOODROW WILSON 

a resolution that has grown warmer and more confident as 
the issues have grown clearer and clearer. It is now plain 
that they are issues which no man can pervert unless it be 
wilfully. I am bound to fight for them, and happy to fight 
5 for them as time and circumstances have revealed them 
to me as to all the world. Our enthusiasm for them grows 
more and more irresistible as they stand out in more and 
more vivid and unmistakable outline. 

And the forces that fight for them draw into closer and 

10 closer array, organize their millions into more and more 
unconquerable might, as they become more and more dis- 
tinct to the thought and purpose of the peoples engaged. 
It is the peculiarity of this great war that while statesmen 
have seemed to cast about for definitions of their purpose 

1 5 and sometimes seemed to shift their ground and their 
point of view, the thought of the mass of men, whom 
statesmen are supposed to instruct and lead, has grown 
more and more unclouded, more and more certain of what 
it is that they are fighting for. National purposes have 

20 fallen more and more into the background and the common 
purpose of enlightened mankind has taken their place. 
The counsels of plain men have become on all hands more 
simple and straightforward and more unified than the 
counsels of sophisticated men of affairs, who still retain 

2 5 the impression that they are playing a game of power and 

playing for high stakes. That is why I have said that 

this is a people's war, not a statesmen's. Statesmen 

must follow the clarified common thought or be broken. 

I take that to be the significance of the fact that assem- 

3oblies and associations of many kinds made up of plain 
workaday people have demanded, almost every time they 
came together, and are still demanding that the leaders 



OUR PEACE PROGRAM 255 

of their governments declare to them plainly what it is, 
exactly what it is, that they were seeking in this war, 
and what they think the items of the final settlement 
should be. They are not yet satisfied with what they 
have been told. They still seem to fear that they are 5 
getting what they ask for only in statesmen's terms — 
only in the terms of territorial arrangements and divisions 
of power, and not in terms of broad- visioned justice and 
mercy and peace and the satisfaction of those deep-seated 
longings of oppressed and distracted men and women and 10 
enslaved peoples that seem to them the only things worth 
fighting a war for that engulfs the world. Perhaps states- 
men have not always recognized this changed aspect of 
the whole world of policy and action. Perhaps they have 
not always spoken in direct reply to the questions asked 15 
because they did not know how searching those questions 
were and what sort of answers they demanded. 

But I, for one, am glad to attempt the answer again 
and again, in the hope that I may make it clearer and 
clearer that my one thought is to satisfy those who 20 
struggle in the ranks and are, perhaps above all others, 
entitled to a reply whose meaning no one can have any 
excuse for misunderstanding, if he understands the lan- 
guage in which it is spoken or can get some one to translate 
it correctly into his own. And I believe that the leaders 25 
of the governments with which we are associated will 
speak, as they have occasion, as plainly as I have tried 
to speak. I hope that they will feel free to say whether 
they think that I am in any degree mistaken in my inter- 
pretation of the issues involved or in my purpose with 30 
regard to the means by which a satisfactory settlement of 
those issues may be obtained. 



256 WOOD ROW WILSON 

Unity of purpose and counsel are as imperatively neces- 
sary in this war as was unity of command in the battle- 
field : and with perfect unity of purpose and counsel will 
come assurance of complete victory. It can be had in no 

5 other way. " Peace drives "° can be effectively neutralized 
and silenced only by showing that every victory of the 
nations associated against Germany brings the nations 
nearer the sort of peace which will bring security and re- 
assurance to all peoples and make the recurrence of 

ro another such struggle of pitiless force and bloodshed forever 
impossible, and that nothing else can. Germany is con- 
stantly intimating the "terms" she will accept; and 
always finds that the world does not want terms. It 
wishes the final triumph of justice and fair dealing. 



WOODROW WILSON 

36. THE NECESSITY FOR A LEAGUE OF 
NATIONS 

Speech before the Peace Conference at Paris, 
January 25, 1919 

I consider it a distinguished privilege to be permitted 
to open the discussion in this conference on the League 
of Nations. We have assembled for two purposes, to 
make the present settlements which have been rendered 
necessary by this war and also to secure the peace of s 
the world, not only by the present settlements but by 
the arrangements we shall make at this conference for 
its maintenance. 

The League of Nations seems to me to be necessary 
for both of these purposes. There are many complicated io 
questions connected with the present settlements, which 
perhaps cannot be successfully worked out to an ultimate 
issue by the decisions we shall arrive at here. I can easily 
conceive that many of these settlements will need sub- 
sequent consideration; that many of the decisions we is 
make shall need subsequent alteration in some degree, for 
if I may judge by my own study of some of these questions 
they are not susceptible for confident judgments at present. 

It is therefore necessary that we should set up some 
machinery by which the work of this conference should be 20 
rendered complete. 

s 2-57 



258 WOODROW WILSON 

We have assembled here for the purpose of doing 
very much more than making the present settlements 
that are necessary. We are assembled under very peculiar 
conditions of world opinion. I may say, without strain- 

sing the point, that we are not the representatives of 
Governments, but representatives of the peoples. 

It will not suffice to satisfy governmental circles any- 
where. It is necessary that we should satisfy the opinion 
of mankind. 

10 The burdens of this war have fallen in an unusual 
degree upon the whole population of the countries in- 
volved. I do not need to draw for you the picture of 
how the burden has been thrown back from the front upon 
the older men, upon the women, upon the children, upon 

1 5 the homes of the civilized world, and how the real strain 

of the war has come where the eyes of the Government 

could not reach, but where the heart of humanity beats. 

We are bidden by these people to make a peace which 

will make them secure. We are bidden by these people 

20 to see to it that this strain does not come upon them again. 
And I venture to say that it has been possible for them 
to bear this strain because they hoped that those who 
represented them could get together after this war and 
make such another sacrifice unnecessary. 

25 It is a solemn obligation on our part, therefore, to 
make permanent arrangements that justice shall be ren- 
dered and peace maintained. 

This is the central object of our meeting. Settlements 
may be temporary, but the action of the nations in the 

30 interest of peace and justice must be permanent. We 
can set up permanent processes. We may not be able to 
set up a permanent decision. 



THE NECESSITY FOR A LEAGUE OF NATIONS 259 

Therefore, it seems to me that we must take as far as 
we can a picture of the world into our minds. Is it not a 
startling circumstance, for one thing, that the great discov- 
eries of science, that the quiet studies of men in laboratories, 
that the thoughtful developments which have taken place 5 
in quiet lecture rooms have now been turned to the de- 
struction of civilization ? The powers of destruction have 
not so much multiplied as they have gained facilities. 

The enemy, whom we have just overcome, had at his 
seats of learning some of the principal centres of scientific 10 
study and discovery, and he used them in order to make 
destruction sudden and complete. And only the watchful 
and continuous cooperation of men can see to it that 
science, as well as armed men, is kept within the harness 
of civilization. is 

In a sense the United States is less interested in this 
subject than the other nations here assembled. With 
her great territory and her extensive sea borders, it is 
less likely that the United States should suffer from the 
attack of enemies than that other nations should suffer. 20 
And the ardor of the United States — for it is a very 
deep and genuine ardor — for the society of nations is 
not an ardor springing out of fear or apprehension, but 
an ardor springing out of the ideals which have come in 
the consciousness of this war. 25 

In coming into this war the United States never for 
a moment thought that she was intervening in the politics 
of Europe, or the politics of Asia, or the politics of any 
part of the world. Her thought was that all the world 
had now become conscious that there was a single cause 30 
of justice and of liberty for men of every kind and place. 
Therefore, the United States should feel that its part 



260 WOODROW WILSON 

in this war should be played in vain if there ensued upon 
it abortive European settlements. It would feel that it 
could not take part in guaranteeing those European settle- 
ments unless that guarantee involved the continuous 

5 superintendence of the peace of the world by the as- 
sociated nations of the world. 

Therefore, it seems to me that we must concern our 
best judgment in order to make this League of Nations 
a vital thing — a thing sometimes called into life to meet 

10 an exigency — but always functioning in watchful attend- 
ance upon the interests of the nations, and that its con- 
tinuity should be a vital continuity; that its functions 
are continuing functions that do not permit an intermis- 
sion of its watchfulness and of its labor ; that it should be 

15 the eye of the nations, to keep watch upon the common 
interest — an eye that did not slumber, an eye that was 
everywhere watchful and attentive. 

And if we do not make it vital, what shall we do? 
We shall disappoint the expectations of the peoples. 

20 This is what their thought centres upon. 

I have had the very delightful experience of visiting 
several nations since I came to this side of the water, 
and every time the voice of the body of the people reached 
me, through any representative, at the front of the plea 

25 stood the hope of the League of Nations. 

Gentlemen, the select classes of mankind are no longer 
the governors of mankind. The fortunes of mankind 
are now in the hands of the plain people of the whole 
world. Satisfy them, and you have justified their con- 

3ofidence not only, but have established peace. Fail to 
satisfy them, and no arrangement that you can make 
will either set up or steady the peace of the world. 



THE NECESSITY FOR A LEAGUE OF NATIONS 261 

You can imagine, I dare say, the sentiments and the 
purpose with which the representatives of the United 
States support this great project for a League of Nations. 
We regard it as the keynote of the whole, which expressed 
our purposes and ideals in the war and which the asso- 5 
ciated nations have accepted as the basis of a settlement. 

If we return to the United States without having made 
every effort in our power to realize this program, we should 
return to meet the merited scorn of our fellow-citizens. 
For they are a body that constitute a great democracy. 10 
They expect their leaders to speak ; their representatives 
to be their servants. 

We have no choice but to obey their mandate. But 
it is with the greatest enthusiasm and pleasure that we 
accept that mandate. And because this is the keynote 15 
of the whole fabric, we have pledged our every purpose 
to it, as we have to every item of the fabric. We would 
not dare abate a single item of the program which con- 
stitutes our instructions; we would not dare to com- 
promise upon any matter as the champion of this thing — 20 
this peace of the world, this attitude of justice, this 
principle that we are the masters of no peoples, but 
are here to see that every people in the world shall choose 
its own masters and govern its own destinies, not as we 
wish, but as they wish. 25 

We are here to see, in short, that the very foundations 
of this war are swept away. Those foundations were 
the private choice of a small coterie of civil rulers and 
military staffs. Those foundations were the aggression of 
great powers upon the small. Those foundations were 30 
the holding together of empires of unwilling subjects 
by the duress of arms. Those foundations were the power 



262 WOODROW WILSON 

of small bodies of men to wield their will and use mankind 
as pawns in a game. And nothing less than the emanci- 
pation of the world from these things will accomplish 
peace. 

5 You can see that the representatives of the United 
States are, therefore, never put to the embarrassment of 
choosing a way of expediency, because they have had 
laid down before them the unalterable lines of principles. 
And, thank God, these lines have been accepted as the 

i o lines of settlements by all the high-minded men who have 
had to do with the beginning of this great business. 

I hope, Mr. Chairman, when it is known, as I feel 
confident it will be known, that we have adopted the 
principle of the League of Nations and mean to work 

1 5 out that principle in effective action, we shall by that 
single thing have lifted a great part of the load of anxiety 
from the hearts of men everywhere. 

We stand in a peculiar cause. As I go about the streets 
here I see everywhere the American uniform. Those men 

20 came into the war after we had uttered our purpose. 
They came as crusaders, not merely to win a war, but 
to win a cause. And I am responsible to them, for it 
falls to me to formulate the purpose for which I asked 
them to fight, and I, like them, must be a crusader for 

25 these things, whatever it costs and whatever it may be 
necessary to do, in honor, to accomplish the object for 
which they fought. 

I have been glad to find from day to day that there 
is no question of our standing alone in this matter, for 

30 there are champions of this cause upon every hand. I 
am merely avowing this in order that you may under- 
stand why, perhaps, it fell to us, who are disengaged 



THE NECESSITY FOR A LEAGUE OF NATIOXS 263 

from the politics of this great continent and of the Orient, 
to suggest that this was the keystone of the arch, and why- 
it occurred to the generous mind of your President to 
call upon me to open this debate. It is not because we 
alone represent this idea, but because it is our privilege s 
to associate ourselves with you in representing it. 

I have only tried in what I have said to give you the 
fountains of the enthusiasm which is within us for this 
thing, for those fountains spring, it seems to me, from 
all the ancient wrongs and sympathies of mankind, and 10 
the very pulse of the world seems to beat to the fullest 
in this enterprise. 



NOTES 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, 
at Bridges Creek, Westmoreland County, Virginia, in the 
homestead of his father, Augustine Washington, beside 
the wide waters of the lower Potomac River. His ancestor, 
John Washington, had come from England to America 
in 1656. The family shared in the prosperous life and 
growth of Virginia ; and, when Washington was born, his 
father owned more than five thousand acres of land, and 
was acquiring wealth in the directing of mining and com- 
merce. The father died in 1743, leaving to his eldest son 
the best part of the estates, including Hunting Creek, 
afterward named by the heir Mt. Vernon; and to the 
other surviving son of his first marriage the lands about 
Bridges Creek. George Washington, then but eleven years 
of age, was left to the care of his mother, the second wife, 
Mary Washington. He had the prospect, when he should 
become of age, of the farm, where he then lived with his 
mother and the younger children in Stafford County, 
across the Rappahannock from Fredericksburg. It was 
a high-spirited, vigorous, resourceful stock from which 
Washington was descended. 

His school rife was not such as it would have been, if 
his father had lived to a greater age. The sexton, Hobby, 
265 



266 NOTES 

at his home on the Rappahannock, led him in the first 
steps of knowledge. Later he went to school to Mr. 
Williams at Bridges Creek, where, by the aid of Mather's 
Young Man's Companion, he made exact progress in 
arithmetic, surveying, measurements, legal forms, and 
didactic rules of behavior, as his preserved manuscripts, 
written in a well-rounded hand, faithfully show. If his 
father had lived, he might have had the opportunity to 
complete his education in England, as his father and 
brothers had. In place of this, however, he had the 
vigorous experience of hunting and journeying in the 
wilds, and he had also the society of his brother Lawrence 
at Mt. Vernon and of Lord Fairfax, the accomplished 
scholar and gentleman, at Belvoir, not far away, and later 
at Greenway Court near the Shenandoah. Participation 
in the social and business life of the men of that time on the 
banks of the Potomac brought forward at an early age the 
independent and manly character of the young Wash- 
ington. 

But Washington was soon drawn away from home to 
military life. Years before, at his brother's at Mt. Vernon, 
he had received training from visiting military officers of 
France in martial drill and sword exercises. Before his 
brother's death he had taken the latter 's place as major 
in the militia. Now the efforts of the French to dislodge 
the English settlers from the Ohio afforded opportunity 
for the services of this brave and masterful man. Wash- 
ington was sent as a messenger by Governor Dinwiddie of 
Virginia to the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf, 
through two hundred and fifty miles of almost trackless 
wilderness, to demand that the French withdraw from the 
valley of the Ohio. In October, 1753, he set forth, in 



NOTES 267 

January he was back, though with the refusal of the 
French commander, yet with an exact knowledge of the 
country and the enemy's forces. In the next spring, at 
Great Meadows, he learned what battle was, and opened 
the French and Indian War. The following year he was 
with General Braddock on his fatal expedition against Fort 
Duquesne, as aide-de-camp, and did what he could to give 
sense to the fight, to save the retreat, and to hold the way 
intc Virginia. For the rest of the war, with poor re- 
sources, he was the defence of the long frontier, and re- 
joiced at last to be with General Forbes when, in July, 
1758, he entered again the w^oods by the union of the rivers 
and changed the name of the old fort of the wilderness 
to Pitt. Arduous, preparatory upbuilding were these 
harassing years of his first military life. 

When Washington was twenty-six years old, he married 
a beautiful widow of like age, Mrs. Martha Custis, who 
brought to him two children by her former marriage, and 
large wealth in money and lands. This, with the estates 
now his at Mt. Vernon, made him one of the wealthiest 
men of Virginia. He became a most successful business 
man and planter. He thoroughly enjoyed hunting and 
the chase with the horse and hounds. He was a fine, 
polished gentleman, scrupulous and elegant in dress, 
delighting in the social life. He was honored in the House 
of Burgesses, of which he was a member, and he became a 
leading man of the colony. 

In September, 1774, Washington took a silent part 
in the session of the Continental Congress as one of 
the delegates from Virginia. He watched the proceedings, 
visited among- the members to secure harmony of action, 
and was considered by many delegates, as Patrick Henry 



268 NOTES 

said, the greatest man on the floor in " solid information 
and sound judgment." The Congress was a momentous 
gathering of great men, the slow beginning of the union of 
the forces of liberty. It formed an " American Asso- 
ciation," engaging not to trade with England until the 
hostile legislation should be repealed. The Congress 
adjourned till spring. When it came together again in 
May, 1775, the war had begun with Concord and Lexing- 
ton. While it was in session, a Williamsburg mob "had 
caused the governor of Virginia to withdraw. Washington 
was ready and expecting action, and came to the Congress 
daily in his military uniform. At last John Adams, on 
the 15th of June, declared that the army must be adopted, 
and that there was but one person for its command, "a 
gentleman whose skill and experience as an officer, whose 
independent fortune, great talents, and excellent universal 
character, would command the approbation of all America, 
and unite the cordial exertions of all the colonies better 
than any other person in the union." Then Washington 
was chosen commander-in-chief. 

For almost nine years he held that commission, and 
when he resigned it he was the foremost man in the world. 
The story of the long service is the familiar story of the 
Revolutionary War. After a stately progress to Boston, 
he organized, drilled, and entrenched the army around 
that city, until by a sudden occupancy of Dorchester 
Heights, in March, 1776, he compelled the withdrawal of 
the British from Boston. With noble and persistent effort 
for the next three years, he, the mainstay of the Revolu- 
tion, kept his forces together, enduring both the vacil- 
lating support of Congress in supplies and the uncer- 
tain continuance of his troops, cut to the heart by the 



NOTES 269 

treachery of Arnold, yet undismayed by the severe trials 
of the winter of 1780-1781 at Morristown. At length 
the end came. Washington, with admirable skill, kept 
Clinton in fear of attack in New York, while he with six 
thousand men found his way to Yorktown, Virginia, and 
there, in union with Lafayette's forces and the French 
fleet, caused, on October 18, 1781, the surrender of Corn- 
wallis. Thus the power of Great Britain in America was 
broken. Slowly the steps for peace were taken, but upon 
April 19, 1783, Washington declared to his army that the 
War of the Revolution was ended, and upon the 23d of 
December, before the Congress in Annapolis, he laid down 
his commission in a noble speech of simple grandeur. 

Washington was the logical candidate for the presidency, 
and was unanimoush r chosen the first president. By 
his dignity of manners and by his grandeur of moral 
character, he established the position of that office and 
brought respect to the government. He was found to be 
as great in matters of peace as of war. He bound the 
country together in himself through extensive tours in 
the Xorth and in the South. Surrounded by competent . 
advisers, he led the country through difficulties in finance, 
and, if possible, greater dangers in connection with the 
French Revolution. Feeling that his work of establishing 
the nation was not done, he allowed himself to be reelected. 
The troubles with France hardly finished were followed 
by those with England. The treaty which John Jay 
made with that country brought upon Washington slander 
and abuse. But he stood unmoved yet sorrowful at his 
post, until, as his term of service ended amid general 
prosperity, men were ashamed of their disgraceful conduct. 
With his sincere Farewell Address, in 1796, he showed his 



270 NOTES 

character and love of country, as he indicated his retire- 
ment from public service in 1797. 

Affecting was the scene of Washington's departure, 
when John Adams was inducted into the office of president. 
Tears rolled down Washington's face as the people bade 
him good-by at the threshold of his abode. He returned 
to his beloved Mt. Vernon, and entered upon his old life. 
He had devoted much of his fortune and the whole of his 
heart to his country. At one time when there seemed to 
be a spark of war, he was called to be commander-in-chief 
again. But it passed by. While still following his 
country's problems, he found pleasure in his home-life 
and the marriage of his granddaughter. Calmly and 
nobly on the 13th of December, 1799, he met his end, after 
but a day's illness. His countrymen, everywhere struck 
with grief, mourned and praised him as the Father of his 
Country. 

DANIEL WEBSTER 

The family of Daniel Webster was probably of Scotch 
origin, but from England the Puritan ancestor, Thomas 
Webster, came to New Hampshire in 1636. In a few 
generations the Websters were numerous in the colony, 
and one of them, Ebenezer Webster, after gallant service 
in the French and Indian War, built a log house on the 
northern borders of settlement in the town of Salisbury, 
near the Merrimac River. From this place he went forth 
as captain of two hundred fellow-settlers to fight in the 
battles of the Revolution. Imposing in stature, vigorous 
and courageous, self-sacrificing and affectionate, though 
without a day of schooling acquiring learning enough to 



NOTES 271 

be a judge in his own town, of forceful mind and noble 
character, Ebenezer Webster was an ideal father 
for his richly endowed son. In a frame house, near 
by the log cabin, the child of a second wife and the next 
to the last of ten children, Daniel Webster was born on 
the 18th of January, 1782. 

The next year the father moved to another part of the 
town, afterward named Franklin, and there, at a place 
upon the Merrimac, later called "Elms Farm," under the 
care of a self-sacrificing mother and the influence of a 
masterful father, in the midst of an affectionate family, 
Webster passed his childhood days. As he appeared to be 
very frail, he was sent as much as possible to school and 
was allowed to play in forest and field. He learned from 
nature lessons that he never forgot. If the schools were 
poor, he learned by reading everything that he could find 
and by committing good literature to memory. When 
fourteen years old he was sent to Phillips Exeter Academy, 
where he rapidy advanced in his studies and began his 
Latin. In February, 1797, he was transferred to the care 
of a private teacher, Rev. Samuel Wood, of neighboring 
Boscawen, and was overcome with joy as he learned that 
his father in his straitened circumstances intended to send 
him to college. With this teacher he studied Virgil and 
Cicero, while at the same time, with a college senior, he 
learned in six weeks a little Greek grammar, and studied 
the four Evangelists of the New Testament. Thus poorly 
prepared, he entered Dartmouth College in August, 1797. 

In college he soon became the foremost student. As 
he was poorly prepared in Greek, he never excelled in that 
language, and could not become the first scholar in his 
class. But he was very proficient in Latin, and the 



272 NOTES 

superior of all in history and literature. He excelled in 
oratory at the societies and in literary work. The people 
of Hanover asked him to deliver their Fourth of July 
oration in 1800, and the students appointed him to give a 
funeral eulogy over a deceased comrade. In college 
Webster filled his memory with rich stores of learning, the 
beginning of a great reservoir of knowledge that served 
him in good stead during his forensic life. 

In 1801, immediately after leaving college Webster 
entered the office of a neighboring lawyer, Mr. Thompson, 
and began to read law, and continued to read history and 
literature. He never lost sight of play while at his work, 
and kept up his intimacy with th$ rod and the gun. In 
order to help his older brother Ezekiel to remain at Dart- 
mouth, he broke up his studies to teach at Fryeburg, 
Maine. He proved himself a successful teacher. To 
earn more money he found time to copy legal papers, yet 
he kept reading everything he could find in literature. 
Back again the next year at study with Mr. Thompson, 
Webster remained there until his brother was through 
college, when he went to Boston and entered the law 
office of the Hon. Christopher Gore, afterward governor 
of Massachusetts and United States senator. Here he 
had opportunity to study and read more widely, to meet 
distinguished men, and to get a glimpse of a larger life. 
While studying here, he received an offer of a clerkship of 
the court in New Hampshire, at a salary of fifteen hundred 
dollars, but he refused it, to the sorrow and disappointment 
of his father, yet with the feeling that it would prevent his 
advance in the future. In the spring of 1805 he was ad- 
mitted to the practice of law in Boston, and soon opened 
an office in Boscawen, New Hampshire, so as to be near 



NOTES 273 

his father in his declining years. After the death of his 
father he gave up his practice of about six hundred a year 
to his brother, and in May, 1807, he began in Portsmouth 
his practice before the Superior Court in New Hampshire. 

During the next ten years, from 1807 to 1817, Webster 
found himself as a lawyer and statesman. By the side of 
Jeremiah Mason as a companion and opponent, he ad- 
vanced in skill as a pleader and in self-restraint and power 
as an orator. His practice increased until it became worth 
two thousand a year, as large as it could be in that section 
of the country. Led into politics by addresses in opposi- 
tion to the War of 1812, he was twice sent to Congress. 
There he, at first occasionally and later frequently, took 
part in public discussions, until he occupied a most com- 
manding position. By favoring the increase of the navy, 
by advocating sound measures in finance, taxation, and 
specie payment, by seeking a liberal interpretation of the 
Constitution, he vigorously served his country. 

During this period, in 1808, Webster married a beautiful 
and accomplished woman, Grace Fletcher, of Hopkinton. 
Of social and sympathetic nature, he richly enjoyed his 
home. After the death of his favorite daughter Grace, 
he had no heart for public affairs, and it was with a feeling 
of relief that he retired to private life in 1817. 

From 1827 to 1841 Webster represented Massachusetts 
in the Senate of the United States. At the beginning of 
his service, his life was clouded with a great grief in the 
loss of his beloved wife, and he had little inclination for 
public office. The next year he was again afflicted by 
the death of his brother Ezekiel, who from early life had 
been almost a part of himself. He was first summoned 
to public utterance by the needs of the surviving officers of 

T 



274 NOTES 

the Revolution, and in the stirring times he joined with 
Henry Clay in the support of the tariff and the " American 
system." Soon the supreme hour of his service was to 
come, and in the great reply to Hayne, January 26, 1830, 
in the zenith of his powers, he struck a note for the Con- 
stitution and Union that thrilled the Senate and the 
land, and has never ceased to resound. Throughout the 
administration of Jackson and Van Buren he continued 
in the great debates his defence of the Union. 

His work during these years in and out of the Senate 
was of vast extent and power. In 1830 he made the 
marvellous plea in the White murder case. In 1832 
he set forth at the centennial the matchless character of 
Washington. In 1833 he vigorously maintained that the 
Constitution is not a compact, but a government. During 
this year and the next he delivered innumerable speeches 
upon the removal of the United States Bank. In 1834 
he pleaded for constitutional liberty in a speech on the 
president's protest. In 1837 he took time for a tour of the 
West, and in 1839 he enjoyed to the full a friendly visit 
to England. In 1837, too, he had made his greatest 
political speech in New York against Jackson and his 
measures, foreseeing the great panic, which soon came. 
Later, he presented his theories of finance to thousands in 
campaign speeches throughout the country, contributing 
to the election of Harrison in 1840. 

Webster became the Secretary of State in 1841, and 
continued in office for two years amid constant difficulties 
but with important results. Harrison died within a 
month, and Tyler became president. The dominant party 
quarrelled with the executive Cabinet, secretaries resigned 
and Webster had to endure reproach to remain at his 



NOTES 275 

post. He did remain, however; effected important 
measures; brought his learning and intellectual powers 
to bear upon his work ; and, amid almost insurmountable 
difficulties, which did not end when his real work was 
accomplished, carried through the Ashburton Treaty with 
England, arranging the northeast boundary. When all 
was done, he, with great self-respect, left his office to rejoin 
his party. 

In 1845 he was returned to the United States Senate 
for his last term. He was in the thick of the fight upon 
questions arising from the admission of Texas, the Mexican 
War, and the Oregon question. The manner in which the 
territory of the United States was extended was to him a 
source of great disappointment. After the election of Gen- 
eral Taylor, the strife over the disposal of the new territory 
almost threatened disruption. Finally, Clay secured the 
approval of Webster in 1850 to a great compromise. 
Webster attempted in his 7th of March speech to present 
a basis upon which the North and the South could remain 
united. For this speech he was made the subject of scorn 
as recreant to duty by many leading men in the North, 
but calm consideration leaves little doubt that, however it 
clashed with his previously expressed views in regard to 
slavery, it was in accordance with the underlying principle 
of his entire life, the giving of the first importance to the 
preservation of the Union. 

With the accession of Fillmore in 1850 to the presidency, 
Webster became for the second time Secretary of State. 
Though engaged in important and difficult measures, no 
such great opportunity came to him as when he was 
Secretary before. At the laying of the corner-stone of the 
addition to the Capitol, on July 4, 1851, he gave the last of 



276 NOTES 

his great occasional addresses. He sought but failed to 
secure the nomination for president in the spring in 1852, 
as he had failed in 1848 and 1844. Ill health came upon 
him, but the president refused to accept his resignation. 
In July the people of Boston sought to do him honor. On 
October 23, 1852, the great orator and statesman passed 
away with the last words upon his lips, "I still live." 



WASHINGTON AND WEBSTER 

Washington and Webster were alike in majesty of 
person and in loyalty and devotion to the Constitution 
and the Union. 

Washington was a large, stalwart man, standing six 
feet two inches high. His hair was chestnut brown, 
until it became gray in later years. His forehead was 
square and commanding. His eyes were of a bluish gray, 
not large, but set far apart. His nose was large and 
thick, with dilated nostrils and prominent ridge. His 
cheeks were high and his face broad. His lips were 
compressed, his mouth was strong, and his jaw was 
massive. Though his eyes told of calmness and of 
benevolence, except when they flashed in moments of 
valor or of terrible indignation, his face, as a whole, gave 
the impression of self-possessed but resolute force. His 
limbs were large and strong. His hands and feet were 
of unusual size, so that gloves had to be made especially 
for him, and boots of the highest number were required. 
He had powerful muscle ; he was a practical carpenter 
and smith ; he could surpass those about him in deeds 
of strength. Strong of foot, he had great endurance 



NOTES 277 

in walking; masterful in the saddle, he could ride any 
steed anywhere. His personal bearing was commanding, 
his figure full of dignity and force. When on horseback, 
in stately Continental uniform he was heroic; when 
standing in public receptions as president, with one hand 
upon his sword and the other behind him, he had the 
dignity and bearing of a king. 

Webster, too, was a large, strong man, and though he 
was not of unusual height, yet when he stood forth to 
speak he seemed to those who looked upon him like a 
giant. His hair was full and raven black. His brow was 
a prominent feature, massive, craggy. He had large 
black eyes, so large that when he was sickly in youth he 
was called "all eyes " ; but his eyes were earnest, thought- 
ful, searching, sometimes even sorrowful. His cheek 
bones were high, and his broad, full face was dark so that 
when a boy he was called "black Dan/' yet when he spoke 
in impassioned words, there was a glow upon his cheeks. 
He had a most expressive mouth, — "a mouth/' a foreigner 
said, "that seemed to respond to all the humanities." In 
his impassioned eloquence his eyes and mouth seemed to 
express all emotions from tender affection and sympathy to 
fearful scorn and rage. His frame was large, his chest 
broad, and his tread firm. Devoted to athletic exercise, 
skilful in the use of the gun and the rod, he was vigorous 
and healthy in all his body. But his voice, musical and 
rich, now low in tone, now raised in thunderous power, was 
his greatest personal possession. As he spoke, his features 
were expressive, powerful, commanding. His whole 
personality passed into his speech. Men called him Jove- 
like, as men had called Pericles Olympian. The people of 
London, as he passed by, said, "There goes a king." 



278 NOTES 

THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 

The first monument on the hill was erected in 1794 
to the memory of Dr. Joseph Warren, president of the 
Massachusetts Congress, and lately commissioned as 
major general in the Continental Army at the time of the 
battle. A beautiful copy of this monument, made in 
marble, is now found within the Bunker Hill monument. 
The permanent monument was to have a nobler object, 
as Webster declares, with glowing eloquence in his orations, 
than the commemoration of the death of a martyr to the 
cause of liberty. 

In 1824 certain citizens of Boston formed the Bunker 
Hill Monument Association, under the influence of William 
Tudor, Esq., who desired the erection of "the noblest 
monument in the world/ ' The first president of the 
association was Governor John Brooks, the major that had 
been sent from the hill for reinforcements and supplies 
at the time of the battle. Daniel Webster, the second 
president, held the office at the time of the laying of the 
corner-stone. 

The ceremony was planned for June 17, 1825, fifty 
years after the battle. The great procession of military, 
Masons, societies, and guests came over from Boston. 
General Lafayette was there to assist the Grand Master of 
Masons and Daniel Webster in laying the stone. Twenty 
thousand people covered the northern hillside before the 
speakers' stand, while just in front two hundred veterans 
of the Revolution, aged, wrinkled, some scarred from 
wounds, among them forty survivors of the battle, with 
General Lafayette in their midst, faced the orator. Rev. 
Mr. Thaxter, who on that spot fifty years before had 



NOTES 279 

prayed ere the battle began, now solemnly offered prayer, 
and Rev. John Pierpont read an ode. The day was bright 
and beautiful, a cool easterly breeze tempered the air, the 
scene was inspiring, when Daniel Webster stood before that 
great throng and delivered the first Bunker Hill address. 

The monument stands in the centre of a large square. 
The sides of the square are four hundred feet long, en- 
closing all the ground of the redoubt and the spot where 
Warren fell. From a solid foundation below the ground 
of six courses of stone, the monument rises eighty-four 
courses to the summit. The height of each course on the 
side is two feet eight inches. The apex is a single stone 
weighing two and a half tons. The monument is thirty 
feet square at the bottom, and about fifteen at the top, 
and it is two hundred and twenty-one feet high. At the 
entrance door the wall is six feet wide. A circular spiral 
staircase winds to the top, where there is a room seventeen 
feet high and eleven in diameter. Here a window looks to 
each point of the compass. The monument is built of 
Quincy granite. 

The celebration of the completion of the monument 
was upon June 17, 1843. It was a remarkable pageant. 
More than one hundred thousand people gathered upon 
the sloping hillside. The President of the United States, 
members of his Cabinet, and thousands of descendants of 
New England, from all parts of the country, were there. 
Again Daniel Webster, Secretary of State of the United 
States, was the orator of the day. A great work had been 
accomplished ; a significant battle-field and the American 
Revolution had at last a worthy monument. The event 
found adequate and eloquent expression in Webster's 
address, The Completion of the Bunker Hill Monument. 



280 NOTES 

FAREWELL ADDRESS 

1 : 4. arrived. Observe the balanced independent construc- 
tions leading to the principal statement. This formal introduc- 
tory sentence, though quite in accord with the stately rhetoric 
of Washington's time, follows classical models more closely than 
is now customary. The usage of our own time is illustrated 
in the opening sentences of the two Bunker Hill orations. 

2:9. election. In 1792. 

2 : 12. foreign nations. France declared herself a republic 
in 1792. The wise course of Washington kept the country in 
a neutral position during the period of the French revolution 
known as " The Reign of Terror." This period has been gen- 
erally considered to extend from January 21, 1793, the date of 
the execution of Louis XVI, to July 28, 1794, when Robes- 
pierre and other sanguinary leaders were guillotined on the 
spot where their victims had been killed. The atrocities com- 
mitted during this period and its sudden end fully justified the 
policy of Washington. 

2: 12. persons. Washington even went so far as to send 
to Madison a number of topics and to ask him to consider 
them and express them in " plain and modest terms " ; but 
Madison begged Washington to abandon his idea of retiring. 
Jefferson wrote a letter, presenting at length the reason why 
he should remain in office, and ending with the words : " and 
I cannot but hope that you can resolve to add one or two more 
to the many years you have already sacrificed to the good of 
mankind." 

2 : 28. unconscious. What is the grammatical relation of 
this word with the rest of the sentence? 

2 : 32. years. Washington was now sixty-four. 

4 : 22. former and not dissimilar occasion. Washington's 
a Farewell Address to the Armies of the United States," 
November 2, 1783. See the Writings of George Wash- 
ington, ed. by W. C. Ford. Putnam's Edition, Vol. X, 
p. 330. 



NOTES 281 

5: 11. palladium. 

Set where the upper streams of Simois flow 
Was the Palladium, high 'mid rock and wood : 
And Hector was in Ilium, far below, 
And fought, and saw it not — but there it stood ! 
It stood, and sun and moonshine rain'd their light 
On the pure columns of its glen-built hall. 
Backward and forward roll'd the waves of fight 
Round Troy — but while this^stood, Troy could not fall. 
— Matthew Arnold, Palladium. 

7 : 27. so large a sphere. Compare the population of the 
United States in 1790, 3,929,214, with that of the present day. 

7:31. subdivisions. Form a clear conception of the 
powers and relations of the state and national governments. 

8:3. shall. Notice the difference between shall and will 
in this sentence. 

8 : 23. treaty with Spain. In 1795 a treaty with Spain was 
made by the United States, allowing both nations to use the 
Mississippi River. 

8 : 30. with Great Britain. On the 18th of August, 1795, 
Washington signed the Jay Treaty with Great Britain. This 
treaty was violently opposed at first, but gradually its accept- 
ance was considered wise. 

9 : 12. first essay. The Articles of Confederation agreed 
upon in Congress in 1777 were not accepted by the last state 
until 1781 . They remained as the basis of a feeble government 
until 1789. 

9 : 13. adoption of a constitution. On April 30, 1789, in 
New York City by the inauguration of President Washington, 
a government was organized under the Constitution. 

10 : 2. associations. Numerous " self -created societies " 
were formed in the land, influenced by the Jacobin clubs of 
France. Washington sternly opposed them without regard 
to his popularity. They soon passed away, as the failure of 



282 NOTES 

the French Revolution taught the people that liberty should 
be restrained by law. 

16 : 15. excluded. The references here are especially to 
Great Britain and France. 

21 : 6. proclamation. When it had been announced early 
in April that France had declared war against England, 
Washington, upon due deliberation with his cabinet, issued a 
proclamation of neutrality. 

THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 

23:11. We are. Notice the parallel sentences in this 
place and in other passages in this oration, often used with 
great effect. 

23 : 14. not. This negative phrase is very impressive. It 
leads to a change of construction into a stronger positive sen- 
tence. 

23:21. But. This conjunction is used to return to the 
previous line of thought. 

24: 17. discoverer of America. Columbus reached San 
Salvador on October 12, 1492, in the caravel Santa Maria. 
See, for fuller description of this scene, Irving's Life of 
Columbus. 

24 : 29. colonists from England. In 1607 the English 
settlements began at Jamestown, Virginia. 

25:6. Plymouth. On December 21, 1620, the Pilgrims 
landed upon Plymouth Rock from the Mayflower. See Web- 
ster's oration on the " First Settlement of New England/' 

25 : 8. ancient Colony. Maryland was first settled in 
1634, at St. Mary's on a branch of the Potomac, by colonists 
who came oyer in the Ark and the Dove under the direction of 
the Baltimore family. 

25 : 22. Society. The Bunker Hill Monument Association, 
of which Webster was at this time the president. 

26 : 9. We know. Study the effect of the repetitions we 



NOTES 283 

know at the beginning and we ivish at the close of this para- 
graph. 

28 : 2. summit. This is a passage of great beauty and 
force, and is typical of JVebster s best manner. It was used a 
second time in reference to the Washington Monument in 
Webster's Address upon the Addition to the Capitol, July 4, 
1851. 

28:11. States. The twenty-four included all the present 
states east of the Mississippi River, except Michigan, Wiscon- 
sin, and Florida, together with Louisiana and Missouri beyond 
the river. Virginia included West Virginia. 

28 : 17. twelve. In 1919 there were one hundred millions. 

28 : 20. become. Should this word and prostrated have 
the same auxiliary? neighbors. If the people were neighbors 
then through the usual routes of travel before the time of 
steam railroads, when only one hundred and twenty-two miles 
of horse-railroads had been built in the country between 
1807 and 1830, how much more are they neighbors now with 
railroads, telegraphs, telephones, and motor cars. 

28 : 26. respect. Compare the present position of the 
United States in navies, revenues, and respect, since it has 
become a world power.. 

28 : 28. revolution. The French Revolution. 

28:31. thrones. Consider how Napoleon made and un- 
made nations and altered the map of Europe. 

29 : 3. free government. Paraguay became a republic in 
1810 ; Ecuador secured its independence in 1822 ; the inde- 
pendence of the United States of the Rio de la Plata (now 
known as the Argentine Republic) was formally declared in 
1816 ; and at the time of the delivery of this speech, the strug- 
gle for independence was in progress in Uruguay, in Chile, and 
in Bolivia, which governments soon after became republics. 

29 : 5. European power. In 1823 President Monroe sent 
his famous message to Congress in regard to the encroach- 
ments of foreign nations on this continent. 



284 NOTES 

This message contained the following sentences : " We owe 
it to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the 
United States and the allied powers, to declare that we should 
consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to 
any portion of this hemisphere, as dangerous to our peace and 
safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any Eu- 
ropean power, we have not interfered and shall not interfere ; 
but with the governments which have declared their indepen- 
dence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, 
on great consideration and just principles, acknowledged, we 
could not view an interposition for oppressing them, or con- 
trolling in any other manner their destiny by any European 
power, in any other light than as a manifestation of an un- 
friendly disposition to the United States." Also, " The 
American continents should no longer be subjects for any 
new European colonial settlement." These expressions em- 
body what is known as the Monroe doctrine. As popularly 
understood, the Monroe doctrine meant a political protection 
and a guaranty of freedom from European interference to all 
states of North and South America. 

29 : 23. Venerable men. Two hundred veterans of the 
Revolution, forty of whom were survivors of the Battle of 
Bunker Hill, were present at this address. Turning toward 
them as he spoke, Webster addressed to them this memorable 



30 : 8. metropolis. The city of Boston. 

30 : 14. ships. Vessels of the United States navy lay near 
the Charlestown Navy Yard, which was situated at the foot of 
the hill. 

30 : 25. thank you. Webster's son Fletcher said that his 
father composed this passage while fishing in the Marsheepee 
River. Once, as he drew near his father, he heard him say, 
" Venerable men ! you have come down to us from a former 
generation," etc. 

30 : 28. Prescott. William Prescott (1726-1795) of Groton 



NOTES 285 

and Pepperell, Massachusetts, was a man of wealth, who 
served as captain in 1755 against Nova Scotia, commanded in 
the redoubt at Bunker Hill, fought as volunteer at Saratoga, 
1777, and was a member of the legislature for several years. 
Putnam. Israel Putnam (1718-1790) of Salem, Massachu- 
setts, and Pomfret, Connecticut, was a valiant officer in the 
French and Indian War and in the Revolution. " He dared 
to lead where any dared to follow " is the inscription on his 
tombstone. Stark. John Stark (1728-1822) of Londonderry, 
New Hampshire, was distinguished in the French and Indian 
War and in the Revolution. His name is associated with 
Ticonderoga and Bennington. After the war he returned to 
his farm. Brooks. John Brooks, M.D. (1752-1825) of 
Medford, Massachusetts, fought at Lexington, Saratoga, 
Monmouth, became adjutant-general, and was governor of 
Massachusetts, 1816-1823. Reed. James Reed (1724- 
1798) of Woburn, Massachusetts, and Fitzwilliam, New 
Hampshire, served in the French and Indian War, was 
colonel of the 2d New Hampshire Regiment at Bunker Hill, 
and became brigadier-general. He lost his sight from small- 
pox in 1776. Pomeroy. Seth Pomeroy (1706-1777) of 
Northampton, Massachusetts, fought in the battle of Lake 
George, 1755, became brigadier-general in 1755, and fought at 
Bunker Hill. He reenf oread Washington on the Hudson in 
1776. Bridge. Ebenezer Bridge was colonel of a Massa- 
chusetts regiment at the battle. Although wounded on the 
head and neck with a sword cut, he was one of the last to 
retreat. 

31 : 7. mid-noon. Milton's Paradise Lost, Book V, 11. 
310-311. 

31 : 9. Him. Major-General Joseph Warren (1741-1775) 
of Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was a physician in Boston in 
1762, the orator of the Boston Massacre in 1772, president of 
the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and chairman of the 
Committee of Public Safety in 1774. 



286 NOTES 

31 : 20. thy name. A change from the third person to the 
second with grammatical license is made, as if under the stress 
of violent emotion the orator would address the form which his 
imagination set before him. 

32 : 5. Trenton. Washington crossed the Delaware on 
Christmas night in 1776, and on the following day captured 
nearly a thousand men at Trenton. Monmouth. The 
battle of Monmouth took place on June 28, 1778. As a 
result, Washington drove the British from New Jersey. 
Yorktown. The British army under Lord Cornwallis sur- 
rendered to Washington at Yorktown, October 19, 1781. This 
disaster brought about the fall of the North Ministry and the 
recognition by Great Britain of the independence of the 
United States. Camden. On August 16, 1780, was fought 
at Camden, South Carolina, a battle between the British 
forces under Lord Cornwallis and the American forces under 
General Gates. In this battle Gates was defeated, losing 
thereby his military reputation. Bennington. Burgoyne 
lost nearly a thousand men at Bennington, Vermont, before 
Colonel John Stark, August 16, 1777. Saratoga. Burgoyne 
surrendered at Saratoga, October 17, 1777. 

33: 4. battle. See Introduction. 

33: 11. act for altering the government. In 1774 Parlia- 
ment passed " four intolerable acts." Among these was the 
Regulating Act, which altered the charter of Massachusetts, 
deprived the people of many political rights, forbade town- 
meetings, and made the governor supreme. Another was the 
Boston Port Act, which removed the capital to Salem and 
closed the port of Boston to commerce. 

33 : 30. interest. Notice the forceful repetition of the 
word. 

34: 1. Salem. Salem was settled by the Puritans- under 
John Endicott in 1628, two years before Boston. 

34 : 19. Continental Congress. The second Continental 
Congress met in Philadelphia, May 10, 1775, and continued 



NOTES 287 

until March, 1781, when it was succeeded by the Congress 
of the Confederation. 

34 : 24. Congress of Massachusetts. When Governor 
Gage suspended the Provincial Assembly in 1774, it resolved 
itself into the Congress of Massachusetts. It met at Concord 
and chose a Committee of Safet}^ for the defence of the colony. 

35 : 3. Lexington and Concord. On the morning of April 
19, 1775, a strong detachment of British soldiers, sent out by 
General Gage to seize arms and stores said to be accumulated 
at Concord, a small town about eighteen miles from Boston, 
reached Lexington, where they found a small body of militia 
drawn up to oppose them. A conflict ensued on Lexington 
Common, in which the first blood of the War of the Revolution 
was shed. The British soldiers pressed on to Concord, where 
they found that most of the stores and munitions of war had 
been removed to a place of greater security. While in Concord 
the soldiers were attacked by the militiamen, and their return 
was the signal for a general engagement. These battles of 
Lexington and Concord, though insignificant when considered 
with reference to the number of men engaged, marked the real 
commencement of the Revolutionary War. 

35 : 8. miscet. Virgil's Mneid, VI, 726. " And an Intel- 
ligence, spread through the parts, directs the whole mass and 
is mingled with the vast body." 

35 : 19. Quincy. Josiah Quincy, Jr. (1744-1775). In 1767, 
at a time of great excitement on account of the oppressive 
measures, Quincy wrote the quoted words, in a letter signed 
Hyperion, to the Boston Gazette. 

35: 26. four. There were not six, for Maine at this time 
was a district of Massachusetts, and the territory of Vermont 
was a subject of dispute between New Hampshire and New 
York until 1777. 

37: 1. one who now hears me. General Lafayette, on a 
visit to America, after a remarkable progress through the 
country, reached Boston in time for this occasion, and sat in 



288 NOTES 

front of the orator among the Revolutionary officers. When 
Webster addressed him, he arose and remained standing with 
uncovered head. 

37:32. Parker. Moses Parker (1732-1775), lieutenant- 
colonel of Bridge's regiment, a gallant veteran of the French 
wars, had his knee fractured by a ball, was left in the redoubt, 
carried prisoner to Boston, and lodged in jail, where his leg 
was amputated. He died July 4. Gardner. Thomas 
Gardner (1724-1775) of Cambridge, colonel of the Middlesex 
regiment, was mortally wounded, as he advanced to defend 
the redoubt on the third attack. He died the next day. 
McClary. Andrew McClary, major of Colonel Stark's regi- 
ment, after a brave fight in the battle, rode to Medford for 
bandages, then reconnoitred the British on Bunker Hill, and 
when returning was killed by a shot from a British frigate. 
Moore. Willard Moore, of Paxton, Massachusetts, major 
in Ephraim Doolittle's regiment, was shot at the time of the 
second charge, and was being carried to the rear, when a ball 
passed through his body. He died on the battlefield alone, 
telling his men to save themselves. 

38 : 15. Greene. Nathanael Greene (1742-1786) , of War- 
wick, Rhode Island, was with Washington at Cambridge. 
He was made major general August, 1776, fought at Trenton 
and Princeton, was quartermaster general in 1778, was at 
Monmouth and Tiverton Heights, superseded Gates at the 
South, recovered South Carolina by many battles, and was hon- 
ored by the South, where he died near Savannah. Gates. 
Horatio Gates (1728-1806) was born in England. He gained 
glory from the capture of Burgoyne, but was not successful at 
the South. Sullivan. John Suliivan (1740-1795) of Berwick, 
Maine, was a general in active and conspicuous service during 
the Revolution. Afterward he became member of Congress, 
and was United States judge in New Hampshire from 1789 till 
the time of his death. Lincoln. Benjamin Lincoln (1733- 
1810) of Hingham, Massachusetts, was a prominent general 



NOTES 289 

of the Revolution both at the North and at the South. He 
received Cornwallis's sword. He was influential in Boston 
and in the nation through a long and honorable life. 

38 : 18. redeas. Horace, Odes, I, 2, 45, " Late may you 
return into heaven." 

40:31. wars. The wars during the wonderful career of 
Napoleon involved all Europe. 

41 : 19. terror around. The French Revolution resulted in 
the " Reign of Terror." See note to page 2, line 12. 

43 : 16. Louis the Fourteenth. This grand monarch was 
king of France from 1643 to 1715. 

43 : 25. the powers of government are but a trust. As 
future citizens of the republic consider carefully and patrioti- 
cally the value of this proposition. 

44:4. Ajax asks no more. This is from Pope's trans- 
lation of Homer's Iliad, Book XVII, line 729. 

44 : 21. Greeks. The struggle of Greece for independence 
lasted from 1820 to 1828. Webster had made a speech in 
Congress, January 19, 1824, expressing the sympathy of the 
American people, and at the time of this oration there was 
intense interest in the issue of the struggle. 

45 : 20. revolution of South America. This took place 
between 1810 and 1824. 

4£j : 9. Solon. Solon did his work for Athens in the 
seventh century before Christ ; Alfred the Great did his for 
England in the ninth century after Christ. 

48 : 24. twenty-four States. Now in 1918 there are forty- 
eight states and surely one country. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Abraham Lincoln was one of the great makers of 
history, and is enrolled among the tragic heroes of his- 
tory. When we think of him, we think first of all of the 

u 



290 NOTES 

victorious President who brought us through the most 
perilous crisis in our annals. He is the great captain of 
Walt Whitman's poem, which has become one of- our 
national hymns, — the wise and valiant captain who 
steered our ship of state through the tempestuous 
seas which threatened to wreck our national hopes 
and ideals, and with them the democratic hopes of the 
civilized world. 

But Lincoln the chief of state instantly raises the 
image of Lincoln the man ; for he is the most human, the 
most intimately known, and the most vividly realizable 
of all our presidents. At once there rises to the mind that 
memorable figure, towering tall and gaunt and strong, but 
slightly bowed by the Atlantean load he bore ; and then 
that unforgetable face, weather-beaten and furrowed, 
compassionately kind and sad. Like Emerson's 
face, it stamps itself indelibly upon the memory as pecul- 
iarly distinctive and distinguished, peculiarly American 
as we like to think, in its noble simplicity. A great per- 
sonality speaks to us here ; we feel its fascinating power, — 
a power at which we marvel when we remember its lowly 
origin and the hard soil of indigence and disadvantage out 
of which it grew. 

When now we pass from the great things he did and the 
great personality he was to the things he wrote, we find 
that these writings are full of Lincoln. We feel his 
personality in them. Waves of feeling pass through them 
and over them — slight ripples here, great billows there. 
It is because the soul of Lincoln is reflected even in his 
formal state papers that they have a literary as well as a 
political interest. So that to consider his writings from 
the literary point of view is to consider them at once for 



NOTES 291 

their meaning, that is for their truth and reasonableness, 
and for their distinctive qualities of expressiveness. It is 
to become more conscious of the secret of their effective- 
ness, — their rhythm, their strength and felicity of word 
and phrase, their imagery, their illustration. We but 
look into them more intently, more curiously, and be it 
said, more lovingly than we do when we are considering 
only their bearing on the great political questions which 
they discuss. They interest us supremely as revealing 
the spirit of Lincoln. It is that spirit which gives the 
words life and color and movement. 

In trying, however, to account for Lincoln's success as 
a persuader of men we must not fail to take account 
of the most powerful factor in it. Lincoln wanted to learn 
how to speak the truth, to fit words to things with exactness 
and clearness. He loved truth more than he loved place 
or an3^thing else in this world. He was ambitious, but 
he never sacrificed truth to ambition. His power over 
men lay largely in his profound and obvious sincerity. 
He made them feel his determination to get at the truth 
for himself, and to present it in its own victorious power 
to others. He had no use for the mere thrust and parry 
and fence of the speaker who talks to win. He had 
only scorn for what he describes in his humorous way as the 
" specious and fantastic arguments by which a man may 
prove that a horse chestnut is a chestnut horse.' ' He 
had no patience with the trimming and hedging and dodg- 
ing whidi are so often resorted to by vote-catching politi- 
cians, or with what he characterizes so admirably as 
" sophistical contrivances groping for some middle ground 
between right and wrong." He never occupied that 
middle ground. His was a whole-hearted devotion to the 



292 NOTES 

truth as he saw it and felt it, and this gave him his ascend- 
ency over men. It winged his language, and sent it home 
to the minds and consciences of his hearers. 

Lincoln's style was effective for its purpose; and the 
nature of that effectiveness is well indicated by Lincoln's 
biographers in their comments on the reception of the 
Cooper Institute address: "Such was the apt choice 
of words, the easy precision of sentence, the simple strength 
of propositions, the fairness of every point he assumed, and 
the force of every conclusion he drew, that his listeners 
followed him with the interest and delight a child feels in 
its easy mastery of a plain sum in arithmetic." This 
plainness, this "interesting and delightful" and convincing 
plainness, this limpid lucidity, is the basic virtue of Lin- 
coln's style. It is not the lucidity of the word or of the 
sentence merely; but the lucidity which illuminates 
whole arguments and long statements. We find it in the 
admirable narrative of events and clear statements of 
issues in the messages to Congress. We find it in 
sections of the first inaugural, — for instance, in the 
paragraphs devoted to the contention that "the union of 
these states is perpetual," and in those which deal with 
the rights and relations of minorities. 

But united with this quality of clearness are those other 
qualities to which we have also alluded before ; those which 
manifest the deeper feelings of Lincoln's heart. Of this 
quality of deep feeling, expressed in the simplest language, 
we have the noblest example in the Gettysburg Address. 
There are the exquisite fineness and that other quality 
of tenderness, of compassionate humanity and imaginative 
sympathy, which the tragic experiences of the war matured 



NOTES 293 

in him. Examples might be cited from both speeches and 
letters. Perhaps the most classically beautiful of them 
is the letter of condolence to Mrs. Bixby, worthy, by 
reason of qualities as rare and indefinable as is the beauty 
of the Gettysburg Address, to take a place of honor with 
that incomparable speech. Here it is ; it cannot be too 
often quoted : — 

November 21, 1864. 
Dear Madam : — I have been shown in the files of the War 
Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massa- 
chusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died 
gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless 
must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile 
you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot 
refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be 
found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I 
pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of 
your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of 
the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours 
to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. 
Yours very sincerely and respectfully, 

Abraham Lincoln. 

With that we may close. It is as perfect in its way 
as a flawless lyric poem. It enshrines those qualities by 
which Lincoln endeared himself to the heart of a people, 
and at the same time it gives him rank with the masters 
of our English tongue. 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The best introduction to the life of Lincoln is the brief 
autobiography which he wrote in June, 1860, at the re- 



294 NOTES 

quest of a friend for use in preparing a campaign biog- 
raphy. This gives us a compact, bircTs-eye view of his 
career as Lincoln himself saw it. This will be found in 
the " Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln/ ' compiled 
and edited by his biographers, John G. Nicolayand John 
Hay (2 vols., Century Company). Their standard Life 
of Lincoln in ten volumes (same publishers) is the authori- 
tative source for the smallest details of Lincoln's life and 
the history of the times in which he lived. It is an 
indispensable reference book. There is a condensation 
in one volume which may be strongly recommended. Less 
voluminous and more manageable than the ten volumes 
are the lives by W. H. Herndon, Lincoln's law partner (two 
vols., Putnam), and Miss Tarbell (two vols., the McClure 
Company) . 

Good short lives of Lincoln are those by John T. Morse, 
Jr., in the American Statesmen Series (Houghton, Mifflin 
and Co.), Norman Hapgood (The Macmillan Company), 
Noah Brooks, in the Heroes of the Nations Series (G. P. 
Putnam's Sons), and Alonzo Rothschild (Houghton, 
Mifflin and Company). Among the popular lives for 
young people those by Charles Carleton Coffin and W. M. 
Thayer may be mentioned. These may be supplemented 
by the intimate account of Lincoln's life at the White 
House given in Frank B. Carpenter's "Six Months at the 
White House, or The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln" 
(Houghton, Mifflin and Company). 

The essays by James Russell Lowell and Carl Schurz 
and the commemorative address by Emerson should cer- 
tainly be read ; as well as the poems by Stedman, Bryant, 
Holmes, Stoddard, and Gilder, supplementing Lowell's 
noble lines in his Commemoration Ode. 



NOTES 295 

A good history of the United States should be available 
for references in following the allusions to the events of the 
Civil War contained in Lincoln's writings. 

Address at Cooper Institute 

Page 49. This speech, commonly regarded as one of 
Lincoln's great speeches, was an important factor in his 
prospects. It was his personal introduction to the East, 
and it made him a presidential possibility. He realized its 
importance, and after his acceptance of the invitation of the 
Young Men's Central Republican Union of New York City, 
he devoted himself with great assiduity to the preparation 
of his speech, Here was a challenge to him to test his prowess 
before an audience very different in character from those to 
which he had appealed in the West. The Eastern people 
were anxious to see and hear the man who had become a 
national figure in his debates with Douglas. 

It was a great audience which gathered at Cooper In- 
stitute ; it was cultured and critical, and included men 
eminent in all walks of life. Lincoln was escorted to the 
platform by Horace Greeley and David Dudley Field. 
William Cullen Bryant, who presided, introduced him, and 
beside him on the platform were men like Henry Ward 
Beecher and Joseph Choate. Mr. Choate has recorded that 
Lincoln seemed ill at ease, beforehand, as in fact he after- 
wards admitted. Mr. Herndon recorded that for the first 
time Lincoln felt somewhat ashamed of his clothes, — ill- 
fitting and creased as his newly purchased suit was. But 
he rose to the occasion, and when he had warmed up to the 
work, he held the closest attention of his audience. He 
did so by the sheer weight of his matter and the masterly 
lucidity and utter simplicity of his style. " It was mar- 
vellous," says Mr. Choate, " to see how this untutored man 
by mere self-discipline and the chastening of his own spirit, 



296 NOTES 

had outgrown all meretricious arts and found his way to the 
grandeur and strength of absolute simplicity." The re- 
straint which he showed in speaking of the South and of 
slavery was as effective as the fervor of his closing periods of 
moral appeal. 

The speech made a powerful impression. All the papers 
printed it in full the next day. Horace Greeley's paper, the 
Tribune, remarked : " The vast assemblage frequently rang 
with cheers and shouts of applause, which were prolonged and 
intensified at the close. No man ever before made such 
an impression on his first appeal to a New York audience." 
And Greeley, later recalling the event, wrote : a I do not 
hesitate to pronounce Mr. Lincoln's speech the very best 
political address to which I ever listened, and I have heard 
some of Webster's grandest. As a literary effort it would 
not of course bear comparison with many of Webster's 
speeches ; but regarded as an effort to convince the largest 
number that they ought to be on the speaker's side, not on 
the other, I do not hesitate to pronounce it unsurpassed." 

Address at Independence Hall 

Page 65. At various cities on the way to Washington 
Lincoln delivered short addresses, from which we select the 
most significant and characteristic. A sense of the im- 
pending crisis pervades them all. It must be recalled that 
after Lincoln's election, the South, declaring him to be 
" a section and minority President," seceded from the Union, 
organized a Confederate government, and seized upon Federal 
property. It is to face this grave situation that Lincoln is 
journeying to the Capital and the White House. 

It will be noted that in the address at Trenton, on the 
eve of Washington's birthday, Lincoln makes an apposite 
and interesting allusion to one of the few books of his boy- 
hood, — Weems's " Lif e of Washington." On the day 



NOTES 297 

following, Washington's birthday, he finds himself " filled 
with deep emotion," in the historic Independence Hall, 
Philadelphia, " from which sprang the institutions under 
which we live." Here he was called upon to raise a flag in 
honor of the recent admission of Kansas as a State of the 
Union. The last words of the speech reflect no doubt rumors 
then current that personal violence would be attempted 
against the new President. 

It may be recalled that when the body of the murdered 
President was taken back to Springfield to be buried on 3d 
May, 1865, the route was the same as that followed on this 
Eastward journey. This w^as done at the earnest request 
of the towns along the route, eager to honor the man who 
had quickened in the hearts of the citizens a deeper affection 
than any which had ever been evoked by a Chief Magistrate 
of the Nation. 

First Inaugural Address 

Page 68. This Inaugural Address was delivered on March 
4th, 1861, a little more than a month before the actual 
outbreak of hostilities between the North and the South. Lin- 
coln had organized the government, and his Cabinet included 
Seward, Chase, and Stanton. The Confederate government 
had also been provisionally organized, with Jefferson Davis 
as President ; and besides seizing Federal property, it had in- 
vested Fort Sumter and had declared itself out of the Union. 

The Address is quiet and simple ; and therefore it dis- 
appointed many who expected a brilliant rhetorical flourish. 
It was calculated to allay passion ; and the more it was 
studied, the better it was liked. 

It was delivered to a vast crowd. Lincoln was well heard, 
and every sentence was followed with rapt and eager atten- 
tion. Few things are more significant of Lincoln's relations 
with men, and with rivals and opponents, than the fact that 



298 NOTES 

when he rose to speak the man who took his hat was his 
old friend and enemy, " the little giant/' Stephen A. Douglas, 
and that the judge who administered the oath was Chief 
Justice Taney of the Dred Scott case, of whom Lincoln had so 
freely spoken his mind. 

Letter to Horace Greeley 

Page 81. Horace Greeley, a distinguished editor but a 
somewhat severe critic of the Administration, published in 
the New York Tribune of 20th August, 1862, — at the 
very time when Lincoln was considering the issuing of his 
Proclamation of Independence, — an open letter addressed 
to Lincoln entitled The Prayer of Twenty Millions, severely 
criticising him for giving in too much to pro-slavery sentiment, 
and failing to satisfy the hopes of twenty millions of loyal 
people. 

Reply to the Men of Manchester 

Page 83. Unlike the well-to-do people and tradesmen of 
England, the workingmen sympathized largely with the 
North. Notwithstanding the fact that Manchester was 
hard hit by the blockade of the Confederate ports during 
the war, the workingmen of that city sent an address to the 
President, expressing their support of his policy. 



The Gettysburg Address 

Page 86. At Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania, were fought 
in July, 1863, the great battles which proved to be the turn- 
ing point of the war. It was decided to dedicate a portion 
of the battle-ground as a national cemetery, and the solemn 
ceremony took place there on 19th November, 1863. The 
oration of the day was given by one of the most finished 



NOTES 299 

speakers of the country, Edward Everett ; and after his 
long and eloquent oration, the President rose to add a few 
words — this classic of eloquence, which ranks with the 
greatest examples of ancient and modern times. It con- 
clusively places Lincoln among the great masters of English 
speech. 

Lincoln felt, after he had spoken, that his speech was a 
failure. (This has been made the theme of a charming story, 
" The Perfect Tribute," by Mary Shipman Andrews, which 
the student is urged to read.) Not so others, as is shown by 
the letter which Everett wrote to him the day after the cere- 
monies, to which Lincoln replied as follows : 

Executive Mansion, Washington, November 20, 1863. 
Hon. Edward Everett : 

My dear Sir : Your kind note of to-day is received. In 
our respective parts yesterday, you could not have been 
excused to make a short address, nor I a long one. I am 
pleased to know that, in your judgment, the little I did say 
was not entirely a failure. Of course I knew Mr. Everett 
would not fail, and yet, while the whole discourse was emi- 
nently satisfactory, and will be of great value, there were 
passages in it which transcended my expectations. The 
point made against the theory of the General Government 
being only an agency whose principals are the States, was 
new to me, and, as I think, is one of the best arguments for 
the national supremacy. The tribute to our noble women 
for their angel ministering to the suffering soldiers surpasses, 
in its way, as do the subjects of it, whatever has gone before. 

Our sick boy, for whom you kindly inquire, we hope is 
past the worst. 

Your obedient servant 

A. Lincoln. 



300 NOTES 



Second Inaugural Address 

Page 87. This is a unique state document — " the most 
sublime state paper of the century," said an authoritative 
English newspaper. State documents do not usually throb 
with deep feeling as this does; nor are they expressions of 
religious aspiration and hope. Now that the end of the war 
seems to be near, Lincoln's great nature, deepened and refined 
by four years of anguish, dares to express itself. But he is 
master of his emotions, and finds fitting language for them ; 
wonderfully effective language ; simple and direct as ever, but, 
with the possible exception of the Gettysburg Address, more 
deeply freighted with feeling. Indeed, opinions are divided 
as to which is the high-water mark of Lincoln's genius : 
Lincoln himself seemed to prefer this Inaugural. He wrote to 
Thurlow Weed as follows : 

Executive Mansion, Washington, March 15, 1865. 

Dear Mr. Weed : 

Every one likes a compliment. Thank you for yours on 
my little notification speech and on the recent inaugural 
address. I expect the latter to wear as well as — perhaps 
better than — anything I have produced ; but I believe it is 
not immediately popular. Men are not flattered by being 
shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the 
Almighty and them. To deny it, however, in this case, is 
to deny that there is a God governing the world. It is a 
truth which I thought needed to be told, and, as whatever of 
humiliation there is in it falls most directly on myself, I 
thought others might afford for me to tell it. 

Truly yours, 

A. Lincoln. 



XOTES 301 



Last Public Address 

Page 90. Lincoln delivered this address three days 
before his assassination. It looks toward the bright future, 
and outlines his policy of reconstruction. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

Theodore Roosevelt, twenty-sixth President of the 
United States, was born in Xew York City, October 27, 
1858. As a boy he suffered from ill health and was not 
strong physically. He entered Harvard College in 
1876 and was graduated in 1880. While there he partici- 
pated in athletic sports and stood well in his studies. 
Very early in Ins career he showed that dogged deter- 
mination to overcome disadvantages that would have 
deterred many another man. Weak physically he re- 
solved to be strong. Laboring under many disqualifi- 
cations for a public speaker, he would not allow them to 
stand in his way. The Empire State has never had a son 
who was so typical of its own motto "Excelsior" as 
Theodore Roosevelt. 

After graduation he at one time contemplated entering 
the legal profession but gave this up. Being possessed 
of independent means he devoted himself to the public 
service. He held successively various positions in the 
service of Xew York City, Xew York State and the 
United States. In 1900 he was elected Vice President 
when McKinley was elected President and became Presi- 
dent upon the death of the latter September 14, 1901. 
He was elected to the Presidency in 1904 by the largest 
popular majority ever given a candidate for that office. 



302 NOTES 

He retired in 1909 but became a candidate for the Presi- 
dency in 1912 on the Progressive party ticket. He was 
defeated and afterwards devoted himself to traveling, 
writing and speaking. 

He has been portrayed as the most picturesque and 
dramatic character that ever held the Presidency. The 
things which he has done and said have left an indelible 
impression on the minds not only of the American people, 
but on those of the world. 

As Police Commissioner in New York City, as organizer 
of the " Rough Riders" in the Spanish- American War, as 
Governor of New York State, and as President, he was 
constantly doing things in such forceful and dramatic 
ways as steadily to appeal to the public imagination. 

In his public addresses and private interviews he has 
used phrases that have become bywords of expression: 
"philosophers of the closet," "parlor socialists," "rose- 
water reformers," "race suicide," "nature fakers," 
"mollycoddles," "Armageddon," "malefactors of great 
wealth," "undesirable citizens," "hyphenated Americans," 
"my policies," "strenuous life," "the square deal," "the 
big stick," "Ananias Club," "hat in the ring," "third cup 
of coffee." 

He has been cartooned more than any man of our day 
and has been more in the public eye. He has been called 
"the most interesting," "the most versatile American," 
"the man on horseback," "the many-sided Roosevelt." 
He was a writer of many books on a great variety of 
subjects. He was a hunter, sportsman, athlete, physical 
culture expert, historian, essayist, scientist, critic, editor, 
reformer, explorer, and held ten or a dozen LL.D.'s from 
various universities. 



NOTES 303 

His messages to Congress were noted for their power. 
As a public speaker he suffered serious limitations, for 
his diction was not polished and his voice not pleasing ; 
but he overcame all these limitations by his vitality and 
earnestness. The effectiveness of his public addresses 
came largely from the vigorous way in which he delivered 
them, in the manner in which he fairly bit off his words and 
snapped them at his audience. 

His first inaugural address consisted of but a few lines 
delivered in a private house in Buffalo to which he had 
gone after President McKinley died from the effects of 
an assassin's bullet. There the oath of office was ad- 
ministered to him and the few words spoken on the after- 
noon of September 14, 1901. 

His second inaugural address was delivered on March 4, 
1905, amidst almost ideal conditions of weather. So un- 
usual is a perfect day had for inaugural ceremonies in the 
inclement month of March that the cry " Roosevelt 
luck" was generally attributed as the cause. The address, 
which was delivered to a vast concourse of people, is 
usually regarded as one of our great state papers. 

Theodore Roosevelt died at his home at Oyster 
Bay, Long Island, January 6, 1919, and was quietly 
buried on a beautiful knoll overlooking the water of Long 
Island Sound. He is mourned by the entire nation as one 
of the most noted citizens of the Republic. 

97 : 6. conditions — happiness. Refers to our great 
natural resources and our distance from other lands. The 
latter has enabled us to develop our industries in peace. 

97:8. heirs of the ages. Our language, ideals, institutions, 
were brought over by our ancestors and yet we did not have 
to struggle by war to get them. 



304 NOTES 

97 : 22. Under a free government a mighty people can 
thrive best. This is almost an advance challenge of the Great 
War. What caused the decline of Athens? of Rome? 

98:1. Duties to others. Contrary to the sometimes 
preached doctrine of isolation. Compare with the " per- 
manent alliances" in Washington's address. 

98 : 7. Sincere friendship. Though occasionally accused 
of sordid motives the United States stands as the most 
conspicuous example of a nation willing to give millions to the 
distressed people of other nations and to spend billions with 
no hope of return in money or land. Compare this with 
Wilson's later speeches in this volume. 

98 : 30. Our forefathers — perils. The hardships of the 
modern immigrant or pioneer fade into insignificance beside the 
dangers of death and starvation that faced the early settlers. 

99 : 6. Never before have men . . . republic. The whole 
continent of North America and also that of South America 
are under democratic republican forms of government, but 
strictly speaking the inference to be drawn from this sentence 
that the people of the United States are administering the 
affairs of a continent is not true. The area of the Roman 
Republic was very much smaller than that of the United States 
and its method of governing territory outside of Italy would 
not to-day be considered democratic. 

99 : 15. If we fail — foundations. Compare with the 
later phrase used by Wilson : " to make the world safe for 
democracy." Roosevelt is referring to possible industrial 
and social trouble within. These caused the fall of the Roman 
Republic. Wilson is referring to dangers without : the military 
autocracy and imperialism of Germany. 

99 : 29. We know that self-government is difficult. The 
failure on the part of the people in a republic to realize that 
government will not run itself, but has to be given a great 
deal of intelligent and educated thought, is responsible for 
many of the ills of a democratic body politic. 



NOTES 305 



WOODROW WILSON 

Woodrow Wilson, twenty-eighth President of the 
United States, was born at Staunton, Virginia, December 
28, 1856. He was graduated from Princeton College in 
1879, took his degree in law at the University of Virginia 
in 1881 and practised his profession at Atlanta, Georgia, 
1882-1883. From 1883-1885 he took graduate work at 
Johns Hopkins University, and from then on was engaged 
in teaching history and political science at Bryn Mawr, 
Wesleyan and Princeton. Of the latter University he 
was president from 1902-1910. In 1911 he became 
governor of New Jersey and remained such until he 
resigned, March 1, 1913, to take office as President of the 
United States, to which he had been elected in November, 
1912. 

President Wilson took the country by surprise when in 
his first message to Congress he revived a custom which 
had been abandoned since the times of Washington and 
Adams. He appeared in person before a joint session of 
the House and Senate on April 8, 1913, and addressed 
them on the tariff. There was some murmuring against it 
at first, but it has now become so much a matter of course 
that it seems as if it had always been. 

Mr. Wilson, probably more than any of his predecessors, 
has, like the Prime Minister in England, regarded himself 
as the leader of the political party which he represents. 
His addresses to Congress and to the people must be read 
with this in mind. Both of these bodies have been puzzled 
by this new trend in American public life which is not in 
harmony witfi their preconceived notions of the Presiden- 
tial office. 



306 NOTES 

He has written and spoken much, mainly on history, 
politics and government. As a speaker he has a pleasing 
voice, which though not loud in tone carries to a great 
distance. He uses gestures less often than almost any of 
his contemporaries, but carries conviction by the force of 
well-chosen words and apt phrasing. Many of the phrases 
used by him have been taken up by the public and put 
into common use. His addresses always show evidence 
of the most careful preparation and are characterized 
by brevity and lucidity. So skilful has he been in stating 
issues clearly that his words have often been accepted by 
the representatives of the allies of the United States as 
best expressing their own ideas of the issues at stake in the 
Great European War. Peoples over the whole earth 
have been made acquainted with them and they have gone 
far towards making neutral nations see clearly the objects 
for which not only the United States but also her allies 
are fighting. 

First Inaugural Address 

Page 101 . The day was cloudy and overcast in the morning 
but the sun burst through the clouds as if for a good omen. 
The longest parade (40,000) in the history of inaugurals took 
place. There were about 100,000 people grouped about the 
capitol. Applause was more frequent than at most inaugurals, 
particularly when the President spoke of social justice. The 
popular vote for Wilson was 6,293,454, for Taft (Republican) 
3,484,980, for Roosevelt (Progressive) 4,119,538, for Debs 
(Socialist) 900,672. Had the votes of the split Republican 
party been combined (Taft and Roosevelt) Wilson would 
have been defeated by the popular vote. It is not improbable 
however, that many who voted for Roosevelt would have 
voted for Wilson if only Taft had been running. The fact 



NOTES 307 

that both the Senate and House of Representatives had 
become Democratic would seem to indicate this. The polling 
of the largest Socialist vote in the history of that party 
(more than double that of 1908) would seem to indicate 
considerable dissatisfaction with the former conduct of 
governmental affairs. 

Throughout the address the President is referring in general 
terms to specific evils, examples of which he evidently had in 
mind but did not mention. The reader will be able to call 
to mind concrete cases corresponding to his characterizations. 

103 : 22. Let every man. This attitude was characteristi- 
cally American. From the days of the earliest colonists and 
pioneers the individual had taken care of himself with very 
little governmental assistance or interference. 

104 : 7. Altered. During his first administration bills 
were introduced into Congress looking to the remedying of 
the conditions enumerated in each one of these items and they 
became laws: 

Reducing the tariff. 

Establishing Federal Reserve Banks for an elastic currency. 

Various forest reserve and national park acts. 

Various reclamation projects enacted into law. 

Arbitration of disputes between employees and employers. 

Establishing a Federal Trade Commission amending the 
Anti-Trust Law. 

Creating an eight-hour day for railway employees. 

Establishing farm loan bureaus for assistance in agricultural 
development. 

Preventing interstate commerce in the products of child 
labor (since declared unconstitutional by the Supreme 
Court). 

Compensation act for employees of the United States 
injured while performing their duty. 

106:18. day of dedication. Compare this expression 
with the use of the word in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. 



308 NOTES 

106 : 24. God helping me. Compare this closing with 
that of the address calling for war — April 2, 1917. These 
two bear a striking similarity to Luther's closing words before 
the Diet of Worms, 1521 : "I can do nought else. Here 
I stand. God help me. Amen." 

Addkess at Independence Hall 

Page 107. This was an open air address delivered in In- 
dependence Square, Philadelphia, in front of Independence 
Hall, the building in which the Continental Congress was 
holding its sessions when the Declaration of Independence 
was adopted July 4, 1776. The President did not read the 
address from a manuscript, but apparently delivered it 
extemporaneously. Mr. Wilson was the first President 
to come to Philadelphia, the Cradle of Liberty, on the natal 
day of the Republic. When some of the audience were pushing 
to get a front seat the President said half humorously : 
" Liberty does not consist in trying to get a front seat." 

107 : 8. chair. The chair referred to was that in which 
John Hancock of Massachusetts sat as President of the 
Continental Congress. 

107: 11. table. The table referred to was used when the 
Declaration of Independence was formally signed on August 
2, 1776, by the members of the Continental Congress then 
present. On the table when President Wilson was speaking 
was a pitcher which had been used by Washington. 

107 : 14. Declaration of Independence. An analysis of 
the Declaration of Independence will show that it consists of 
four parts : (1) the preamble, (2) theories of government, 
(3) an enumeration of a long train of abuses, (4) the resolution 
declaring independence. It is to parts 3 and 4 that Mr. 
Wilson refers as a " piece of practical business." The theories 
expressed in part 2 were centuries old. It was the application 
of them to concrete conditions that was new. 



NOTES 309 

The Declaration of Independence as a document was not 
the work of any one man. As early as June 10, 1776, a 
committee of the Continental Congress had been appointed 
to draw up such a paper. This committee consisted of 
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert 
Livingston and Roger Sherman. Jefferson drew the pre- 
liminary draft, but Adams and the others suggested modifi- 
cations which were adopted before it was reported to Congress 
on June 28th. 

110 : 6. Banking System. It must be recalled that this 
address was delivered before the Great European War broke 
out. There was a heavy gold balance due from this country 
to Europe. Business conditions were said to be very bad and 
a financial crisis was freely predicted. The war broke out 
just about a month later and the call on the United States 
for supplies of all kinds gradually turned the balance against 
Europe and, according to some, averted a business and fi- 
nancial crisis which would otherwise have surely come. 

110 : 12. that act. The act referred to is known as the 
Federal Reserve Act which became law December 23, 1913. 
It divided the United States into twelve districts with a 
Federal Reserve Bank in each. Its object was to make 
the expansion and contraction of the currency elastic. Like 
any reform it met with bitter opposition from some and 
enthusiastic support from others. During the war the system 
inaugurated has proved of great value in the part it has played 
in floating enormous liberty Loans. The former Treasury 
System could have accomplished virtually nothing so success- 
fully. 

111:21. dollar diplomacy. While Philander C. Knox 
was Secretary of State under President Taft he was particu- 
larly active in securing opportunities for the investment of 
American capital in the republics of Latin America and 
China. This was called " dollar diplomacy." The policy 
met with considerable opposition, particularly because it 



310 NOTES 

made our neighbors suspicious of our motives and was likely to 
cause a good deal of trouble because of the uncertain condi- 
tions of the government in many of the countries to the south. 
Investors would then be likely to call on our government to 
interfere to protect their purely private investments and this 
might lead to serious conflicts with friendly governments. 

112 : 4. We did not set up any barriers against any par- 
ticular people. There may have been in the President's mind 
at this time a veiled protest against the discrimination against 
the Japanese on the part of the California legislature. The 
Japanese government had been presenting protests. 

112 : 24. Mexico. Many large mining and other cor- 
porations representing American capital had gone into Mexico. 
Virtually the only system of labor known and found there was 
that of the peon. Some agents of the companies tried to 
introduce the free labor system of America but without 
success, others accepted conditions as they found them and did 
the best they could, and others undoubtedly abused the 
system they found. Superficial observers, accustomed to 
American and European labor conditions and little under- 
standing the difficulties in the way of trying to work reforms, 
brought back harrowing tales of imposition and exploitation. 
Details now known but not then available for the President 
make it clear that the Mexican troubles were due not so much 
to a rising of the peon against his wrongs as to a political 
revolt of unscrupulous leaders, who were using the peon as a 
pawn. 

The entire address, but particularly the part about Mexico, 
has been characterized as exemplifying " the impossible ideal- 
ism of the President." Conditions in Mexico were then 
little understood by Americans, who, with the President, 
thought that the Mexicans were moved by the same political 
and economic ideals as themselves. The eighty-five per cent 
referred to resent just as strongly any attempt of the United 
States to impose its political and economic customs upon 



NOTES 311 

them as they resent the rule of the fifteen per cent. The 
primitive conditions then obtaining in Mexico, like those in ex- 
istence in other parts of the world, had to be met by other 
arguments than the theories of a Declaration of Independence. 

114 : 12. treaty obligations. In 1902 a treaty was made 
with Great Britain, known as the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty 
from the names of the men who drafted it — John Hay, 
Secretary of State in Roosevelt's Cabinet, and Lord Paunce- 
fote, British Ambassador to the United States. This treaty 
was duly ratified by the United States Senate. By its terms 
all vessels of all nations were to be given equal treatment in 
the matter of toll charges for using the Panama Canal. In 
the Panama Canal Act for the government of the Canal Zone 
passed by Congress in 1912 American coastwise vessels were 
exempt from the payment of tolls. This was in violation 
of our treaty with Great Britain. Under President Wilson 
Congress took up this matter and passed an amendment to 
this Act, which the President signed June 15, 1914. By this 
amendment the exemption of American vessels was repealed. 

116:31. humanity. The whole attitude of the President 
in this address is a kind of protest against a sentiment which 
had prevailed earlier and was wrongly derived from the 
famous toast of Commodore Decatur : " Our Country : In 
her relations with other lands may she always be in the 
right ; but our country, right or wrong." The Commodore 
did not mean that we were not to try to rectify a wrong, but 
that if the government in power representing a majority of 
our fellow citizens became involved in a war which we per- 
sonally might think was wrong — it was none the less our 
duty to fight for her. 

Address at Washington ' 

Page 118. " This address was delivered in the evening before 
a meeting of the Pan American Scientific Congress in Wash- 
ington. 



312 NOTES 

118 : 4. Monroe Doctrine. In a message of President 
Monroe to Congress in 1823 he laid it down as a principle 
that the United States would look upon the attempt of any 
European power to impose its form of government or to 
establish new colonies in the two Americas as an unfriendly act. 

Under subsequent Presidents this simple doctrine was so 
broadly interpreted that in the public mind it came to mean 
a virtual protectorate over other American nations. This 
" Big Brother " attitude was distasteful to the Latin Ameri- 
can republics and it is this impression that President Wilson 
is trying to remove. See note to 29 : 5. 

118 : 16. Americans. The states of Latin America have 
become noted for the frequency of their internal revolutions 
and for wars between themselves. This explains President 
Wilson's plea. 

119 : 18. arbitration. The United States has always been 
a strong advocate of arbitration. Under President Taft 
great progress was made along these lines and under President 
Wilson still further steps were taken. During 1913 thirty-one 
governments, representing four fifths of the population of the 
world, had agreed to the plans for arbitration proposed by the 
United States for settling disputes between nations. Con- 
spicuously absent from the list, however, were the German 
and Austrian empires. 

119 : 22. munitions of war. Accepted practices of neu- 
trality have always permitted the purchase of arms abroad. 
Had the American colonies in the Revolution not had such a 
privilege their freedom would probably never have been won. In 
this, as in not a few other respects, treatment given to Latin 
American countries, because of their unstable condition, 
has had to be different. President Taft on May 14, 1912, 
had forbidden the export of arms to Mexico, which was in a 
state of revolution. On February 3, 1914, President Wilson 
rescinded this order, thus permitting the very thing which he 
is saying in this address should not be allowed. However, on 



NOTES 313 

April 23d of the same year he was forced by conditions in 
Mexico to replace the embargo on the export of arms to that 
country and thus had to reverse himself. His experience 
with Mexico probably convinced him that it was safer for 
Latin American countries not to permit the export of arms 
to neighboring countries in which revolutions were taking 
place. 

The Traditions of America 

Page 121. Delivered before the convention of the National 
Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution on the 
afternoon of April 17, 1916. Over 6000 members were in 
attendance. The occasion explains the references to tradi- 
tions of our forefathers. 

AMERICANIZATION AND LOYALTY 

127 : 3. organization. Such organizations as the Na- 
tional German American Alliance are referred to here. 
See the expose of the activities of this body in the report of 
the subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, 
— Senator W*. H. King of Utah, Chairman. 

Address at Lincoln's Birthplace 

Page 129. This address was delivered in the daytime 
before an audience of 25,000 persons, many ox them moun- 
taineers who had driven in for miles over rough roads to hear 
the President. For conciseness of expression and for literary 
charm it is one of President Wilson's best efforts. 

129 : 1. memorial. The memorial consists of the log-cabin, 
in which Lincoln was born, placed within a marble tempte. 

132 : 27. In his habit as he lived. Hamlet, III. iv. 135. 

132:31. brooding. President Wilson in using this 
language, and the words " brooding, " " lonely," is speaking 



314 NOTES 

figuratively of the way in which he feels about the martyr 
President. Lincoln was not one who withdrew from contact 
with his fellows. On the contrary he delighted in companion- 
ship and was happiest when he had many about him. 

Foundations of Peace 

Page 135. Very short notice was given by the President 
to the Senate of his intention to address them on this occa- 
sion. He appeared at 1 p.m. on the day mentioned and de- 
livered his message. 

The theory on which President Wilson addressed the Senate 
alone on this occasion is based on the original conception of 
the powers and duties of that body. The Senate by the 
Constitution of the United States is intended to be an advisory 
and controlling body particularly in matters relating to foreign 
affairs and treaties. The President may negotiate a treaty, 
but it does not become valid until ratified by a two thirds' 
vote of the Senate. Washington used to consult the Senate 
in person, and President Wilson on this occasion merely revived 
this custom as he had revived the similar custom of addressing 
both Houses of Congress on April 8, 1913. 

135 : 10. balance of power among European nations was 
an idea and term which came into existence about the 
beginning of the seventeenth century. It means that the 
States of Europe should be so balanced that no nation should 
have such a preponderance as to endanger the independence 
of another. Most of the European wars of the seventeenth, 
eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries were fought to 
maintain that balance. 

137 : 20. freedom of the seas — an expression arising 
from the fact that though peoples may own the land nobody 
owns the seas. Within certain limiting customs established 
by the practice of nations for centuries their use is open to 
all. Germany had been maintaining that Great Britain was 



/ 



NOTES 315 

restricting her use of the seas. This reference was taken in 
Great Britain as a sort of reflection on the British. This 
was without warrant, however, for Great Britain with but 
few exceptions (and these were always remediable in court) 
had scrupulously obeyed international practice and law. It 
was Germany that was constantly violating all established 
rules of the sea and humanity by her submarine policy. 

138 : 4. naval armaments. Long before the European 
war Great Britain had proposed a limitation of naval arma- 
ment, but it had met with no favor in Germany. Germany 
had set the pace for military programs and had maintained it. 

Breaking with Germany 

Page 141. At 2 p.m. on the date given President Wilson 
appeared before Congress with this message. The occasion 
was most impressive and a subdued hush prevailed. The 
President was calm and confident. The members and the 
onlookers present listened intently to his recital of events. 
The audience rose and cheered at his concluding words. 

141 : 9. eighteenth of April. The note of April 18, 1916, 
and others mentioned herein ma} T be found in full in the 
New York Times Current History of the European War. 

146 : 8. We are the sincere friends of the German people. 
For some time the President kept up a distinction between the 
German people and their government. He did not seem to 
realize at first that these people by virtue of their schooling 
for decades had come to believe exactly as their rulers 
believed and were at one with them in everything they 
did. Compare this with the same sentiment in the War 
Address. 

Second Inaugural Address 

Page 147. March 4, 1917, fell on a Sunday. On that day 
President Wilson merely took the oath of office without further 



316 NOTES 

ceremony. Inauguration ceremonies were set for Monday, 
March 5th. There were about 50,000 people grouped about 
the capitol. The parade was only about one half as long as 
at the time of his first inauguration. The inaugural ball was 
abandoned. The whole atmosphere of a festive occasion 
was lacking. There was not a note of color. The country 
had broken off diplomatic negotiations with Germany and 
was waiting for any overt act on her part to show that she 
openly defied us and held us in contempt. A small group of 
" wilful men " in the United States Senate had held up the 
passage of the armed ship bill which the President was urging 
and the Senate had had to adjourn without enacting it into 
law. 

147: 1. four years. For the accomplishments of his four 
years see the notes on his first inaugural in this volume. 

148 : 13. cosmopolitan people. In his address in 
Philadelphia, July 4, 1914, the President had called attention 
to the fact that this country had opened its gates to all the 
world and invited all people to come. This had made this 
country the residence of more different races than any other 
country in the world. Each of the warring countries in the 
war found sympathizers here, with a resulting division of 
opinion. 

148 : 24. For our wrongs on the seas see the notes to the 
war address which follows. 

149 : 7. armed neutrality. When two or more nations are 
at war a neutral nation sometimes puts itself on a military 
footing to protect itself in case of need against the encroach- 
ments of one or other of the belligerents. 

149 : 29. provincials no longer. Washington in his 
Farewell Address had spoken against " permanent alliances " 
with European nations. This had been seized upon as a 
policy by those parties in control of the government since 
Washington's time. Modern invention, however, had brought 
the United States to the doors of Europe and virtually made 



NOTES 317 

her part of the Old World. A policy suitable for Washington's 
time and for many decades after him could not continue. 

150 : 9. These are the things. The proposals which here 
follow are very similar to those laid down in his address before 
the Senate on January 22d given above. 

150 : 31. assist revolution. Compare this referenc3 to the 
assistance given to revolutions with his address before the 
Pan American Scientific Congress given above and the notes 
in connection with it. 

151 ; 25. sustain and guide me. This appeal to the people 
to stand united behind him was founded on a knowledge which 
he had of conditions in the country at large. In the East 
there was generally a feeling that the country should have 
gone to war with Germany, but had the President and Con- 
gress done so it is doubtful if the West would have given full- 
hearted support. 

The President and his supporters had carried on his cam- 
paign for reelection on the ground that he had kept the 
country out of war. He now found himself being pushed into 
it by the actions of Germany. 

152 : 6. Let us dedicate ourselves. Note again the use 
of an expression similar to that in Lincoln's Gettysburg 
address. 

Address to Congress 

Page 153. This address was delivered at 8.30 p.m. on the 
date given before a Joint Session of Congress. As it called 
for a State of War with Germany the moment was tense, 
but the cheering was such as was never heard before in the 
halls of Congress. Tne notes on this address are almost 
exclusively taken from those prepared by Professor W. S. 
Davis, Professor C. D. Allin, and Dr. William Anderson 
of the University of Minnesota and are reproduced by the" 
permission of the Committee on Public Information at 
Washington. 



318 NOTES 

This address of President Wilson voices the best ideals 
and aspirations of the American people. It enumerates the 
long train of abuses practised by Germany against us which 
forced us to take up arms against her. 

153 : 5. responsibility of making. There had been only 
two other periods in the history of the country equally serious 
— 1776 and 1861. Nobody can pretend that there have 
been any other crises in American history (barring the Rev- 
olution and the Civil War) when so much that citizens of 
this country count dear has been at stake. The War of 1812, 
the Mexican and Spanish wars, seem as child's play beside 
this exigency. 

153 : 7. laid before you. President Wilson had the 
sworn duty to lay the facts before Congress and recommend 
to it the needful action. The Constitution of the United 
States prescribes his duties in such emergencies. 

153 : 19. promise. On May 4, 1916, the German Govern- 
ment, in reply to the protest and warning of the United States 
following the sinking of the Sussex, gave this promise : That 
" merchant vessels both within and without the area declared 
a naval war zone shall not be sunk without warning, and 
without saving human lives, unless the ship attempt to escape 
or offer resistance." 

The promise made by Germany thus became a binding 
pledge, and as such was torn up with other " scraps of paper " 
by the German " unlimited submarine warfare " note of 
January 31, 1917. 

154 : 14. hospital ships. Mr. Wilson was undoubtedly 
thinking of the cases of the British hospital ships Asturias 
sunk March 20, and the Gloucester Castle. 

The Belgian relief ships referred to were probably the 
Camilla, Trevier, and the Feistein, but most particularly the 
.large Norwegian steamer Storstad, sunk with 10,000 tons of 
grain for the starving Belgians. Besides these sinkings, two 
other relief ships — the Tunisie and the Haelen — were 
attacked unsuccessfully. 



NOTES 319 

155 : 13. modern history. Mr. Wilson could have gone 
further back than " modern history." 

Even in the most troubled period of the Middle Ages there 
was consistent effort to spare the lives of nonbelligerents. 
Thus in the eleventh century not merely did the Church 
enjoin the " truce of God," which ordered all warfare to 
cease on four days of the week, but it especially pronounced its 
curse upon those who outraged or injured not merely clergy- 
men and monks, but all classes of women. We also have 
ordinances from this " dark period " of history forbidding 
the interference with shepherds and their flocks, the damaging 
of olive trees, or the carrying off or destruction of farming 
implements. All this at a period when feudal barons are 
alleged to have been waging their wars with unusual ferocity. 

155 : 18. American ships. Following eight or more 
American vessels which had been sunk or attacked earlier, 
in most cases in contravention to international law, these 
ships also had been sunk, following the repudiation of her 
pledges by Germany : 

February 3, 1917, Housatonic. February 13, 1917, Lyman 
M. Law. " March 16, 1917, Vigilancia. March 17, 1917, 
City of Memphis. March 17, 1917, Illinois. March 21, 
1917, Healdton (claimed to have been sunk off Dutch coast, 
and far from the so-called " prohibited zone "). April 1, 1917, 
Aztec. March 2, 1917, Algonquin. 

Furthermore, no American should forget the sinking of the 
William P. Frye on January 28, 1915, by a German raider. 
This act under normal circumstances would be a casus belli. 
The raider, the Prinz Eitel Friedrich, then impudently took 
refuge in an American port. 

American lives had been lost during the sinking of at least 
20 vessels, whereof 4 were American, 1 Dutch, and 1 Norwe- 
gian. In one or two cases the vessel tried to escape and made 
resistance, and the loss of life was possibly excusable for the 
Germans. In the bulk of the cases the destruction was 



320 NOTES 

without fair warning and without reasonable effort to give 
the passengers and crew chance to escape. 

In all, up to declaration of war by us, 226 American citizens, 
many of them women and children, had lost their lives by 
the action of German submarines, and in most instances 
without the faintest color of international right. 

The United States Government made an official estimate 
that by April 3, 1917, no less than 686 neutral vessels had 
been sunk by German submarines since the beginning of the 
war. This did noc include any American vessels. (New 
York Times, History of the War, May, 1917, pp. 239 and 241.) 

160 : 18. critical posture of affairs. Wars do not have 
to be declared in order to exist. The mere commission of 
warlike or unfriendly acts commences them. Thus the first 
serious clash in the Mexican war took place April 24, 1846. 
Congress " recognized " the state of war only on May 11 of 
that year. Already Gen. Taylor had fought two serious 
battles at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. 

Many other like cases could be cited ; the most recent was 
the outbreak of the war between Japan and Russia. In 1904 
the Japanese attacked the Russian fleet before Port Arthur, 
and only several days after this battle was war " recognized." 

If the acts of Germany were unfriendly, war in the strictest 
sense existed when the President addressed Congress. 

Address to the American People 

Page 167. Not an address but a proclamation or appeal to 
the American people, communicated to them through the 
medium of the newspapers. 

This was the first of President Wilson's direct addresses 
to the people. He later used this method frequently. In a 
way it came to impress the people that he was their leader and 
spokesman elected by them for such purposes. 

Contrast this appeal and its tone with that of the addresses 



NOTES 321 

of the Kaiser and their tone of command. The whole differ- 
ence between democracy and autocracy is illustrated by 
them. 

Memorial Day Address 

Page 173. Delivered in Arlington Cemetery outside of 
Washington. There was a huge throng of people assembled in 
the amphitheatre behind the historic Lee mansion. Veterans 
of the Confederate and the Union armies were there in number 
and their gray and blue uniforms gave color to the scene. In 
spite of its brevity the address was interrupted by frequent 
applause. 

" Memorial Day/' or as it is sometimes called, " Decora- 
tion Day," really originated in the South with southern 
women, who began the practice of placing flowers on the 
graves of the soldiers who had died in the Civil War. 
From there the custom spread to the North so that generally 
the day, May 30th, came to be established as a holiday 
throughout the Union. American residents in foreign lands 
quite generally hold exercises on the same day. 

The Fight for Freedom 

Page 175. As supplied to the newspapers this message 
bears neither date nor address. It appeared in their issues of 
June 9, 1917, and thus first reached the American people. 
It was delivered to the Russian Government, however, on 
May 26th. The occasion which moved the President to send 
it was that the Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates 
in Russia had declared in favor of a peace without indemnities 
or cessions of territory. The President opposes their plea 
for a separate peace and warns them against the apparent 
German double dealing. Unfortunately for them, as the 
future proved, they did not heed his warnings. 

175 : 2. delegation. Shortly before this the monarchical 



322 NOTES 

government of Russia had been overthrown and a provisional 
government of republican forces set up. The President de- 
cided to send a delegation to Russia to express to the people 
and the new government our sympathy and desire to assist. 
At the head of this delegation President Wilson placed 
Elihu Root, formerly Secretary of State under President 
Roosevelt. The President used the occasion to make clear 
to the world as well as to the Russians the motives which 
prompted the United States to enter the war. In this 
message he first began the formulation of the principles 
which should guide us when the discussion of peace terms 
began. 

176:1. propaganda. Germany had begun the first of 
what came to be known as her " peace offensives." 

176 : 15. Berlin to Bagdad. See notes to 183 : 30 in the 
Flag Day Address which follows. 

176 : 27. status quo ante. " The state in which it was 
before." A Latin expression used frequently in international 
law and during wars to refer to a settlement of a war on the 
basis of a return to conditions as they were before the war. 

177 : 12. principle. Compare the principles for settle- 
ment here laid down with those in his address delivered on 
January 8, 1918. 

Flag Day Address 

Page 179. This address was delivered June 14, 1917, in 
Washington. The annotations were prepared by Professors 
Wallace Notestein, Elmer Stoll, August C. Krey, and William 
Anderson of the University of Minnesota, and Professor 
Guernsey Jones of the University of Nebraska. 

179 : 1. Flag Day — a day generally observed throughout 
the United States to celebrate the day on which the flag of 
the country was officially adopted, June 14, 1777. 

180 : 27. incite Mexico. The reference is to the note sent 



NOTES 323 

by Dr. Alfred Zimmermann, foreign secretary, to Von Eckhart, 
German minister to Mexico, requesting him to seek an alliance 
against us with Mexico and Japan. Mexico was to have Texas, 
New Mexico, and Arizona. It was written January 19th, 
on the eve of the Germans' unlimited submarine warfare, and 
while we were at peace with Germany. The minister was to 
act as soon as it was " certain that there will be an outbreak of 
war with the United States." The note was intercepted, and 
when in March its contents were made known it set popular 
feeling aflame and more than any other act of aggression on the 
part of Germany aroused the American public. 

181 : 25. military masters of Germany. The German 
Empire and its constitution was formed not by the people- 
but by the 25 kings and princes of Germany, headed by 
the King of Prussia. Bismarck wrote the constitution and 
regarded it as adopted when the German princes and kings 
approved it. It was never submitted to a vote of the people. 
It is clear at once how perfect was this constitution. It was 
perfect from the standpoint of the kings and princes, especially 
of the Kaiser, who. as King of Prussia, controlled two r thirds of 
the people and two thirds of the land of Germany. 

Bismarck did not choose to leave the people out entirely ; 
thus the German constitution provided for an elected house, 
called the Reichstag. It was chosen by manhood suffrage of 
those over 25 years of age. The districts established in 1871 
were unchanged in 1918.' This meant that the large cities 
winch have grown up since 1871 and contain the laboring 
vote were but partially represented, and the German Govern- 
ment dared not change these districts, because it would mean 
increased vote for the laboring classes and the Socialist party. 
It need not have been so fearful, for, under the constitution, the 
popular house was merely a great debating club, which might 
talk and go through the forms of considering legislation, but was 
not a real factor in the German Government. It was little more 
than a convenient piece of political scene-painting, and the room 



324 NOTES 

where it met has been well called by one of the members the 
" Hall of Echoes." 

The real power in the German Parliament lay with the 
Bundesrat, a body of 61 members, which met in secret. It 
was composed of diplomats appointed by the kings and princes 
of Germany, Prussia having the largest number. These 
ambassadors voted at the direction of their sovereigns, and as 
the King of Prussia was the most powerful and appointed the 
chancellor, who presided over the Bundesrat, he had enough 
votes to veto any*neasure. The Bundesrat was not only safe 
from democracy but was the body through which the Emperor, 
as King of Prussia, could really control Germany. Here were 
originated almost all bills, and all legislation had to be ap- 
proved by the Bundesrat; this meant, in other words, by 
Prussia and its King, the former Emperor William II. It 
was thus that Germany had been Prussianized in its govern- 
ment. 

183 : 30. German warships. The German cruisers, the 
Goeben and Breslau, took refuge in the Dardanelles at the 
outbreak of the war. Instead of interning these fugitive 
ships in accordance with international law, the Turkish 
Government, already under German influence, pretended to 
buy them. In this manner the German Government became 
master of the situation and Turkey lost whatever independence 
it may still have had; for the German admiral and crews 
remained on board and a German' element was introduced 
into the remainder of the Turkish fleet. It was this Tur co- 
German fleet, under effective German control, that forced 
Turkey's reluctant entrance into the war. By order of the 
German admiral, it bombarded Russian Black Sea ports, 
without provocation, without warning, without previous 
authorization of the Ottoman Government, and contrary to 
the desires of a majority of its members. (Diplomatic 
Documents, Carnegie edition, part ii, pp. 1057-1205 and 1385- 
1437.) 



NOTES 325 

The opinion of Maximilian Harden, editor of the Zukunft, 
as to the causes of the war, was as follows : 

" Not as weak-willed blunderers have we undertaken the 
fearful risk of this war. We wanted it ; because we had to 
wish it and could wish it. May the Teuton devil throttle 
those whiners whose pleas for excuses make us ludicrous in 
these hours of lofty experience. We do not stand, and shall 
not place ourselves, before the court of Europe.'. . . Ger- 
many strikes. If it conquers new realms for its genius, the 
priesthood of all the gods will sing songs of praise to the good 
war. . . . We are waging this war not in order to punish 
those who have sinned, nor in order to free enslaved peoples, 
and thereafter to comfort ourselves with the unselfish and 
useless consciousness of our own righteousness. We wage it 
from the lofty point of view and with the conviction that 
Germany, as a result of her achievements, and in proportion 
to them, is justified in asking, and must obtain, wider room 
on earth for development and for working out the possibilities 
that are in her. The powers from whom she forced her 
ascendency, in spite of themselves, still live, and some of 
them have recovered from the weakening she gave them. . . . 
Now strikes the hour for Germany's rising power." (Article 
by Harden translated in the New York Times, Dec. 6, 1914. 
Also in New York Times Current History, III, p. 130.) 

Dr. Rohrbach, in his Deutschland unter den Weltvolkern, 
characterized the development of Germany toward Constan- 
tinople as " the greatest political end which the present or 
the next generation can desire." The Alldeutsche Blatter, the 
organ of the Pan-Germans, said on December 8, 1895, that 
the German interests demanded as a minimum that Asiatic 
Turkey should be placed under Germany suzerainty. The 
most advantageous way would be to connect Mesopotamia 
and Syria and place the whole of the Sultan's dominion under 
German protection. (Summarized by the author of the Pan- 
Germanic Doctrine, 1904, p. 216.) "The Bagdad line," said 



326 NOTES 

the Alldeutsche Blatter, December 17, 1899, " can become of 
vast political importance " to Germany. 

" The establishment of a sphere of economic influence from 
the North Sea to the Persian Gulf has been for nearly two 
decades the silent unspoken aim of German foreign policy. 
Our diplomacy in recent years . . . only becomes intelligible 
when regarded as part of a consistent Eastern design. A 
secure future for Germany is to be reached along this 
line and no other." (Prof. Spiethoff, of the German 
University at Prague, as quoted in the Round Table, 
March, 1917.) 

Across the path of this railway to Bagdad lay Serbia — an 
independent country whose sovereign alone among those of 
southeastern Europe had no marriage connection with Berlin, 
a Serbia that looked toward Russia. That is why Europe 
was nearly driven into war in 1913 ; that is why Germany 
stood so determinedly behind Austria's demands in 1914 
and forced war. She must have her " corridor " to the south- 
east ; she must have political domination all along the route 
of the great economic empire she planned. She was un- 
willing to await the process of " peaceful penetration/' 

Reply to the Pope 

Page 188. This letter was made public on August 28, 
1917. Though in accordance with custom diplomatic corre- 
spondence is signed by the Secretary of State it is known that 
this note was written by President Wilson. 

On August 1, 1917, Pope Benedict XV addressed a note 
to all of the warring powers, proposing a cessation of the war 
and a virtual return to the status quo ante helium. He 
suggested that territorial difficulties between Germany and 
France and between Italy and Austria as well as those in the 
Balkans and in Poland could be made the subject of negotia- 
tion. It is generally supposed that the Pope was urged to 



NOTES 327 

take this action at the instigation of Austria and that Germany 
was a party to it. 

Message to Congress 

Page 193. This was the regular message to Congress 
required by the Constitution. The President following the 
custom which he had reestablished, appeared before the 
joint session of the two houses and delivered his message 
orally. His last appearance before Congress had been 
when he delivered his War Message (see above) on April 
2, 1917. 

Since his war message events had moved rapidly. Hun- 
dreds of thousands of our troops had been sent to France, 
Russia had collapsed and the troops which Germany had 
had fighting in the east had been released and sent to fight 
against the Allies in France and Italy. The President had 
determined that we must help Italy. To do that we must 
make war on Austria-Hungary. 

Nevertheless his call upon Congress to declare war on the 
latter country came with dramatic suddenness. Some thought 
he would denounce the Austrian intrigues which had been 
exposed in this country and others thought he would be 
pacifistic because he felt that Austria was more to be pitied 
than blamed. Both were disappointed. 

He occupied thirty- three minutes in delivering the address. 
When he had finished there was a remarkable demonstration. 
Though there had been frequent applause during its delivery, 
at its close the audience rose to its feet with cheer after cheer. 
Senator La Follette remained seated as did also Congressman 
William Mason of Illinois. 

The message was cabled throughout the world. 

Compare his attitude on the masters of the German 
people and the people themselves as it is found in former 
addresses. 

195 : 32. No annexation . . . indemnities. This phrase 



328 NOTES 

had been put into the mouths of the revolutionary party in 
Russia by the German agents and was being loudly pro- 
claimed. 

197:8. They have established . . . See notes on the 
Flag Day Address. 

198:3. We owe it . . . The President later changed 
this attitude by recognizing the Czecho-Slavs as a nation. 

198 : 22. The people of Germany . . . See notes to 
War and Flag Day addresses. The Kaiser had always kept 
insisting that the war was one of defence. This was essential 
to justify him for entering it without the previous consent of 
the Reichstag. 

199 : 30. See an account of the Congress of Vienna 
1814-1815, in any history. It was not a Congress at all, 
but a meeting of diplomats who settled affairs after the 
Napoleonic period by intrigue and to the advantage of kings 
and princes. 

200 : 19. the Russian people . . . The President gives 
them credit for an intelligence which the great body of the 
people lacked because they had no education. 

201 : 13. associates. The President very carefully avoids 
the use of the word " allies " and came to do it more and 
more. His object was undoubtedly to keep before the people 
that we had no treaty of alliance, but for the use of the word 
" associates " he has been much criticised. 

201:31. Austria-Hungary has since been termed the 
jackal running after the wolf (Germany) to pick up some of 
the spoils. 

An insistent demand was later made that we declare war 
on Bulgaria, but the President and his advisers had other 
information and held out against the demand. Eventually 
Bulgaria surrendered. 

202 : 27. - alien enemies. At first only male alien enemies 
were registered, but the women were found to be as active as 
the men, hence this demand. 



NOTES 329 

203 : 16. profiteering — hence making excessive profits 
because of the war. 

204 : 12. single committee — an appeal for a budgetary 
system on a scientific basis. 

204 : 18. . railway systems. The railways, express com- 
panies, and telegraph and telephone companies were finally 
taken over by the government. 



War Aims and Peace Terms 

Page 207. On January 5, 1918, Lloyd George, Prime 
Minister of England, delivered an address on the war aims of 
Great Britain before a Trade Union Conference. It is sup- 
posed that President Wilson immediately began drafting this 
address on the war aims of the United States and the terms of 
peace which this government had in mind. The manuscript of 
the address was sent to the printer on the evening of January 
7, 1918. Very short notice was given to Congress to assemble 
in joint session to hear this address. It bears a certain 
resemblance to Lloyd George's address, but never before had 
such clear and definite exposition of war aims and peace 
terms been given. Later the President's political opponents 
began to say that the aims and terms of peace were hazily 
and indefinitely stated, but a careful reading will show that 
his meaning was clear. 

There was great applause at the mention of the rectification 
of the wrong done Alsace-Lorraine in 1870. At this time 
Germany had Russia at her feet, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, 
and Turkey were her faithful followers, Belgium, Serbia, 
and Montenegro were overrun. She had virtually accom- 
plished her ideal of the Middle European Empire (see the 
Flag Day Address notes). She was now ready for peace 
on what she had within her power and was much surprised 
and chagrined that the Entente Allies would not listen to her 
appeals. 



330 NOTES 

Brest-Litovsk in Russia was the place chosen by Germany 
in the humiliated land for holding peace conferences. Russia 
wished to have the conferences held at Stockholm in a neutral 
country, but Germany refused. Delegates were present 
from Russia, Germany, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The Entente 
Allies were asked to send delegates but they refused to have 
anything to do with it. 

207 : 12. principles. The main points put forward by 
the Russians were no annexations and no indemnities, that 
each people should be permitted to determine its own form 
of government and whether it wished to be an independent 
state or united with another. 

207 : 19. practical terms. The Germans flatly refused 
to evacuate Russian Poland, Courland, Esthonia, and Lithuania 
and demanded that the Russians pay for the damage done 
Germans within their borders but refused to pay for the goods 
which they had taken from the Russians while their armies 
were in Russia. The Germans having Russia at their mercy 
intended to treat without mercy. All pretences of being fair 
were pure hypocrisy. For this reason the Russians broke 
off negotiations, but their utter helplessness brought them 
back at a later date when Germany imposed her will. 

208 : 30. German Reichstag. On July 19, 1917, the Reichs- 
tag passed resolutions to the effect that peace should be 
made on the basis of no annexations and no indemnities. 
If sincere at that time Germany absolutely violated them at 
Brest-Litovsk. 

209 : 15. Not once, In this volume see the addresses 

and notes of " Foundations of Peace," " War Address," 

" Testing a Plan of Peace," " Struggling with Autocracy." 

210:4. a voice calling . . . President Wilson seems to 
have been hoping against hope that order would come out 
of the chaos which existed in Russia. Anarchistic elements, 
seemingly headed by German agents, had got in control and 
were showing themselves more tyrannical than autocracy. 



NOTES 331 

These revolutionists, called Bolsheviki, had in reality over- 
thrown the legally chosen representatives of the people and 
were shooting them down when they showed opposition. 

211 : 2. secret covenants. There has always been opposi- 
tion to such secrecy in the United States. As the Constitution 
requires a vote of two thirds of the Senate to make a treaty 
valid secrecy has been impossible. 

211 : 24. program. The fourteen points which follow 
afterwards became the centre of peace discussion. First 
Austria-Hungary and then Germany stated that they were 
willing to accept them, and also those laid dowm in the Four 
Principles of Peace (see page 223) and those in the President's 
address opening the Fourth Liberty Loan campaign, Sept. 27, 
1918. See pages 251-2. 

1. See above note on secret covenants. 

2. The Germans were prone to regard this as against 
England, but the use of the submarine by Germany in a 
way to conflict with international law was probably uppermost 
in the President's mind. 

3. This was said by the President's opponents to aim at 
" free trade." 

4. This has been the object aimed at by European nations 
for years but it has always been flouted by Germany. 

5. The crime committed by Germany against Belgium, 
first, in violating her territory and then in destroying her 
property and maltreating the people, will probably go down 
in history as the most horrible act perpetrated in centuries. 

6. See any modern European history for an account of the 
way in which Alsace-Lorraine was stolen from France in 1871 
and France made to pay an indemnity of one billion dollars. 
The people of Alsace-Lorraine through their representatives 
begged and implored not to be handed over to Germany, but 
that country held France helpless in her hands. The people, 
however, have never become reconciled to German rule. 

The atrocities and violations of international law per- 



332 NOTES 

petrated by the Germans in that war have never been thor- 
oughly known by the Americans. 

9. In the Trentino to the north of Italy and round 
Trieste the population is almost exclusively Italian and yet 
the places are controlled by Austria-Hungary. 

10. Austria- Hungary is an empire comprising so many 
different nationalities in certain areas that it has been termed 
the polyglot empire. Many of these peoples have never 
been given full political rights. What the President intended 
to convey by " autonomous " is obscure. Did he mean absolute 
independence or political rights in a state federated with 
Austria-Hungary ? 

11. After the Balkan Wars Serbia had tried in vain to get 
a seaport but Austria-Hungary had stepped in to thwart her. 

12. The same question here as under 10 arises with reference 
to the meaning of " autonomous." Armenians in the northeast, 
Greeks along the coast, and Arabs in the south are the chief 
subject races of Turkey. 

13. In the eighteenth century Poland was wiped out of 
existence as an independent state by suffering three successive 
partitions. Russia, Prussia, and Austria shared in the spoils. 
Before these partitions began Poland used to have a seaport 
on the Baltic. Here the President does not use the word 
" autonomous" but " independent " and thus leaves no doubt 
as to his meaning. 

14. A league of nations such as is suggested here has been 
the dream of enlightened political leaders for centuries back. 
Henry IV of France in the beginning of the seventeenth century 
proposed one. So many nations of the world have leagued 
themselves against Germany to put her out of the way of 
making trouble for the peace of mankind that such an 
association almost seems in sight. 



NOTES 333 



Message to the Russian People 

Page 216. When the Czar was overthrown it left the 
Russian Duma, the Russian's nearest approach to a Parliament 
or Congress, in control. The chief leader or minister estab- 
lished by that body was Kerensky. To put the government 
on a legal basis it was determined to have a Constituent 
Assembly chosen by the people so as to frame a government. 
Before this body met a group of radicals called Bolsheviki 
had ousted the former ministers from power. When these 
radicals saw that the representatives of the people chosen to 
Constituent Assembly were not going to be favorable to 
them they dispersed them. In their place they called to- 
gether a central group of representatives chosen by Soviets 
or committees of soldiers and workingmen. The truth as 
it is now known shows that these delegates were far from 
representative of the Russian people. Nevertheless Presi- 
dent Wilson, always hopeful that some order might come out 
of chaos, addressed them this note on the occasion of their 
removing their seat of government from Petrograd to Moscow 
in order to escape from the Germans, who, in spite of their 
protestations at Brest-Litovsk, were seizing the Russian Baltic 
seaports. 

Subsequently the government of the United States in 
conjunction with the Allies sent troops to fight against the 
forces of these Soviets, who had shown themselves as anar- 
chists and agents of general disorder. 

Address to Congress 

Page 217. This is really as much an address to the Amer- 
ican people as to Congress. Some members of that body 
expressed themselves as puzzled as to the reasons for calling 
Congress into joint session for the delivery of this address. 
The members were notified to assemble on very short notice 



334 NOTES 

and at 12.30 p.m. on the date given the President gave the 
address. The enthusiasm and applause which greeted 
former addresses were not evident this time. 

217 : 5. The German Chancellor at this time was Count 
von Hertling. v 

218 : 7. Brest-Litovsk. See notes to page 207. 

219 : 21. Congress of Vienna. See note, 199 : 30. 

223 : 18. principles. The four points which follow were 
subsequently added to the fourteen of the January 8, 1918, 
address and to those of September 28, 1918, and made the 
basis of pleas for peace by Germany and Austria when they 
began to collapse. 

President Wilson in this address more than any of his others 
shows that he feels himsslf as the mouthpiece and leader of 
the people. He also developed the idea that the President, 
like the British Prime Minister, is the leader of a party — an 
idea somewhat foreign to Americans. 

Address at Baltimore 

Page 226. This address was delivered in the evening at 
Baltimore at the opening of the Third Liberty Loan campaign 
before an audience of 15,000 people in the Fifth Regiment 
Armory. 

227 : 29. justice. There is room for doubt here as to 
whether the President really had in mind that Germany 
should be punished for her outrages. 

228:25. Their military masters. There is here as in 
former addresses a note struck that if the people and states- 
men of Germany could have had their way they would 
act differently from the military leaders. No evidence 
had been adduced, however, to show that the people of 
Germany were not one in mind and sympathy with their 
generals. 

228 : 28. In Finland the Germans had in reality forced 



NOTES 335 

the selection of a German prince as king. In the Ukraine, a 
part of Russia which had been set up as a republic, Germany 
had exacted severe measures to get supplies and demanded 
free access to Odessa. Rumania, after Russia's collapse, had 
been overrun, parts of her territory taken away from her 
and a German garrison set upon her capital. 

222 : 7. Are we not justified. Germany was just beginning 
to prepare for her final great drive on the western front 
which lasted until July 18th. 

The President here refers to a plan which was hinted at 
but not presented that if Germany were permitted to take 
great stretches of Russia she would give up Belgium and parts 
of France and Italy. He shows that no such plan would be 
acceptable to him. 

229 : 16. Their purpose. See the notes to the War and 
Flag Day addresses above. 

231:11. Force. The closing lines on Force were taken 
up with almost universal approval by the American people. 
The President had never spoken so vigorously. 

Address to Labor 

Page 232. This address is really as much an address to the 
American people and those of Great Britain, France, and Italy 
as :o labor. 

Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of 
Labor, had stood firmly for war against Germany, and the 
effort of some elements in the Federation to discredit him 
were defeated. 

This is one of the President's best-balanced addresses and 
was largely influential in quieting unrest in labor circles. 
Its very colloquial and anecdotal form was adapted to his 
audience. 

233:31. place in the sun. The Kaiser and the Crown 
Prince of Germany used the expression and convinced the 



336 NOTES 

German people that they were being crowded out from a place 
in the sun and must fight for it. 

234 : 25. subsidy. The German Government had incurred 
huge debts in order to give these subsidies. 

235: 4. Berlin-to-Bagdad Railway. See the Flag Day 
Address and the notes. 

236 : 2. Pan-Germans. Those who wished Germany to 
spread out and conquer. 

By a system of education carried on for a generation the 
majority of the German people had become Pan-German in 
ide:s. 

236 : 6. one of the Central Powers. Austria-Hungary. 

236 : 7. chief Central Power. Germany. 

236 : 22. groups in Russia. Misguided people who like 
the Bolsheviki thought that they could put through idealistic 
reforms and that the German Government would not dare 
harm the Russian people because the German people would 
rise up and stop it. They were rudely awakened. 

237 : 1. pacifists. A group of people in this country who 
did not believe in going to war with Germany no matter how 
badly she might trample upon us. Not to be confused with 
a group that believed in international tribunals for settling 
disputes. Many of the men surrounding the President had 
had the reputation of being pacifists of the very kind that the 
President condemned. 

237 : 6. Colonel Edward M. House of Texas had been an 
intimate friend and adviser of the President for many years. 
The President sent him abroad many times to represent him. 
His political opponents criticised him very much for this 
somewhat unusual procedure. 

238 : 22. capitalists. The President has stood as the 
friend of the laboring men as opposed to the capitalists and 
when the former were about to tie up all of the industries of 
the country by a strike on the railroads he favored and put 
through legislation which gave them very handsome increases 
in wages. 



NOTES 337 

Note that fully one half of this address is taken up with a 
virtual appeal to laboring men to stay on the job and settle 
their disputes with their employers amicably. 

240: 1. The mob spirit. Evidently referring to the 
I.W.W. — Industrial Workers of the World — many of whose 
leaders are opposed to all government and control. 

Greeting to France 

Page 241. On July 14, 1789, the French people in Paris 
stormed the Bastile, an old and forbidding castle which stood 
in the city and typified to them the tyranny of their kings. 
The day was afterwards, in 1793, set aside as their liberty 
day, just as July 4th is ours. Germany has no liberty day 
to celebrate and no liberty document to venerate. 

Fully 200 American cities celebrated the day. In New York 
city there was a great procession of all nationalities. 

President Poincare* and General Foch sent thanks and the 
chairman of the Committee on Allied Tribute to France sent 
a note on the restoration of Alsace-Lorraine. 



Independence Day Address 

Page 242. This was delivered at the grave of Washington 
at Mount Vernon. All of the diplomatic representatives of 
the great nations of the world were present. 

The introductory paragraph is a masterpiece of literary 
expression. 

243 : 6. Barons at Runnymede, who forced King John 
to sign the Magna Carta in 1214, a document which lies at 
the foundation of English liberty and is venerated not only 
by the English, but by Americans and other liberty-loving 
peoples. 

244 : 18. friendless group of governments. Germany and 
her allies. The Kaiser and his friends are here classified as 



338 NOTES 

they deserved to be — in a class with men of ages back — 
medieval robber barons. 

245:1. These are the ends. Compare the four points 
here made with the fourteen given in the address of January 
8, 1918, and the four in the address of February 11, 1918. 

246 : 5. debating. Here the President would seem to 
imply that peace by negotiation was not to be undertaken. 

Though this address was not intended particularly for 
foreign powers, Von Hertling, the German Chancellor, replied 
to it July 10, 1918, in an address to the Reichstag, and Baron 
Burian, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, replied 
to it in an address to the Austrian and Hungarian Prime 
Ministers, July 16, 1918, on the eve of a Reichsrath meeting. 

Fourth Liberty Loan Address 

Page 247. This address was delivered at the opening of the 
campaign for the Fourth Liberty Loan at the Metropolitan 
Opera House in New York City on Friday night, September 
27, 1918. 

Unlike most of the President's public addresses it was care- 
fully prepared and printed in advance. He adhered closely to 
the text which he held in his hand and glanced at as he spoke. 

He. delivered the address rapidly and allowed few pauses 
for applause. There was, however, an outburst when he made 
it clear that peace would be dictated to a defeated Germany 
and would not rest upon her promises of good conduct here- 
after, but would be guaranteed. 

This address with those of January 8 and February 11, 
1918, became very important in armistice and peace negotia- 
tions, for in the three the terms of peace were laid down. 
First Austria-Hungary, then Germany began to appeal to 
them and declare that they would accept them as the basis 
of peace. 

248 : 24. We came into it. See War Message and notes 
to it as given above. 



NOTES 339 

249 : 7. Those issues. See the addresses of January 8 
and February 11, 1918, above. 

250 : 6. Bucharest. Capital of Rumania. When this 
country was crushed because of the collapse of Russia Ger- 
many imposed a peace which took away from Rumania 
territory inhabited by Rumanians. This was in direct con- 
flict with the principles enunciated by President Wilson as 
those for which the Americans were fighting. 

251:31. particulars. Compare these with the fourteen 
ancLfour given in preceding addresses. 

253 : 8. entangling alliances. See Washington's Farewell 
Address given above. 

256 : 5. peace drives. A term applied to the efforts of 
the Central Powers to get peace while their armies were still 
in the ascendant. 

A League of Nations 

Page 257. This address was delivered at 3 p.m. in the 
Salle de la Paix in the French Foreign Office. Monsieur 
Clemen ceau was in the chair. At his right was Mr. Wilson 
and at his left Mr. Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Great 
Britain. The latter seconded the resolution to create the 
League about which Mr. Wilson was speaking. 



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